Benjamin Parker is a poet based in Gwynedd in North Wales. Benjamin has had works published in a wide range of print and online publications, both locally and intentionally, such as Blue Unicorn, The Purposeful Mayonnaise, Hot Pot Magazine, Nawr Mag, Free Verse Revolution, Crest Letters and The Uncoiled. Benjamin was also shortlisted in the Tap into Poetry poetry competition in 2023. Aside from poetry, Benjamin recently completed a BAHons in English Literature and Creative Writing at the Open University, where he graduated with First-Class Honours. Benjamin is now continuing his journey with OU and is currently studying for an MA in English Literature.

Vacant Spring

A view that doesn’t resonate
beyond the waning bridge. 
The lonely hand of darkness,
festering in pockets of daylight. 

I gaze at the radiance squandered 
like fog upon the waiting tide.
A gaze drowning in black cotton, 
that will not welcome the shoreline. 

As I walk to release bristles of doubt 
small twigs fracture beneath me.
In the breeze, I hear the sweetness,
a gathering of birds bathing
softly in the eye of spring.
I feel the salt leaping from the foam
to land gently on my skin.
But as the light dances 
on the shoulder of every breath,
all I can see is my shadow. 

Autopilot

A life put on like a suit, 
following the crust of a footprint.  
A vessel that clings to powdering walls
with barely one hand on the wheel. 
As each breath dwindles in small pockets, 
I journey the carriage as a sparrow. 
An existence framed without blemish;
grains and a towering cliff. 

I arrive just to sleep on the journey
and depart as the road ventures south. 
The doubt that stains black on quivering palms,
commanding each neuron to hibernate. 
The thoughts that recoil in tunnels and faults,
a fear that won’t sip the horizon. 

In dreams, I savour when laughter takes flight
to ease the dark perch of the ceiling. 
A mind that vacates in the blight of discovery,
the pathway where blisters trudge on.
Yet still, I cherish the lull of the morning;
moments entwined with the surface.