Peter Lattu

Dark Berries by Clifford Bernier: A Review

Clifford Bernier is a well-traveled man who, in his poems, takes one from his home along the Potomac River to such places as Vancouver, Candidasa and Inan-cho. He writes of exotic faraway places in words that dance like dervishes in the mind conjuring up the magic of childhood adventure tales of mystical princes and princesses on the edge of time and the world as we know it. The rich language in these poems takes us on a journey as exciting as the destinations, as in “the shape of your back a shamisen or koto”.

He delves into the past as well in “Babylon”, where he recreates its gates and streets teeming with merchants, courtesans, kings and snake charmers. Babylon is now buried under sand and almost forgotten. This poem brings us Babylon alive again and full of vigor.

He writes too of music and writing, of love, and of the surgeon’s scalpel. “Meditations” evokes musical notes scattered on the page of poetry “though you cannot hear them”. Though imagined, they are real. “The Surgeon’s Work” is an understated moving love poem to a woman with breast cancer.

“Rabat”, the closing poem, sums up the evanescence of life, even in so lively a place as the kasbah. The poem suggests an older man drinking coffee and nostalgically recalling summers gone by. The sugar for his coffee reminds him of the “cubed passages of the kasbah” with its bustle of activity and “haggle of merchants/ over dates and persimmons”.

Take a trip with Clifford Bernier. Dark Berries is available for $10.00 from Pudding House Publications, 81 Shadymere Lane, Columbus, OH 43213.

{Review by Peter Lattu, April 2010}