Poem of the Day: “The Bell Ringer” by Jonathan Dick

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “The Bell Ringer” by Jonathan Dick.  Dick is from Toronto, Canada. He has had over thirty poems published in various literary journals. Follow him on Twitter: @jjdickyboy.

The Bell Ringer

Jonathan Dick

There is a planet in my thoughts,


a planet made from the atoms 

of murkiness: darkness perverts 


this world entire. it is so cold, 


so humanly cold, so taste fear,


with clouds of grey-green holiness,


with winds that shriek and whip 

back upon the force of gravitas.


this planet is dead.



In the wind-washed aphasic night


there is only the weight of self


standing on a wooden, rotten, sinking,


watchtower. Hard he pulls 


on the braided cord, pulls on the bell, 

the bounded bell of cracked sheen. 


into the nighted scream, pulling and ringing, 


always, for no one, 

no one will hear.



He moves the power of the planet 


with every pull on the cord, 

jolting his naked birth;

a morphed man of grey-green holiness, 

he is doomed, bellowing. 


sweat rolling in rain-stained streaks

down his pointed face, he stares

into planetary loneliness, the pulsing 


ever-night sky.  

Poet’s Notes:  A metaphysical poem about loneliness and pain. I often find myself in my mind, ringing a bell, calling for attention. Yet, there is no one to hear me.