WETLANDS, a poetry chapbook by Clifford Bernier
Publication Date: March 15, 2025
Paperback, 38 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-98-1
The wetlands of the title of Clifford Bernier’s deceptively gentle chapbook are specifically the region around the James River in Virginia, but as he announces in his opening poem, the “River” here really is a metaphor, a locus from which the reader is invited to “invent yourself / but without restrictions.” Many of these poems are in the voices of the animals that inhabit the region, conveying such natural wisdom as “The groundhog told the otter / you are meaning simply by being” – and that the act of being arises out of the creative tension on the boundaries of the “real and not-real,” of “time and the / absence of time.” Like “The Sad King” crushed by the weight of the world, we are bidden to “leave the crumbling castle // wander in the wild” until it is time to take leave of the James, “where the river turns to rest, / singing with the singing earth.”
Praise for Clifford Bernier & Wetlands
In the style of Chinese brushstroke painting, Clifford Bernier expresses in this compact collection called Wetlands the appreciation of being. Nature speaks to him and others as it simultaneously speaks to itself. This thoughtfully rendered work is a musician’s meditation of song and dance set mostly in the wetlands of Virginia’s James River.
—Karren LaLonde Alenier, author of How We Hold On
With Wetlands, Clifford Bernier weaves a tapestry of natural and philosophical wonder out of the James River and its environs. His poems sing with the voices of birds, flow with the currents of rivers and breathe the rustle of leaves in the wind. Underlying the natural wonder of his poetic landscape which is set out in luminous detail, Bernier offers meditations on the self, being, and the majesty of the imagination. Come to Wetlands for its visual imagery, stay for the timeless reflections of this talented poet.
—Henry Crawford, author of Binary Planet
In his beautiful, lyrical collection, Clifford Bernier makes surprising connections that put the reader at the crossroads of contradiction on one level, while above and below, meanings in images resonate as clear and true. Through witness of the natural world, capturing a Taoist-like feel of reverence and movement, Bernier reveals understandings of human relevance — imagination, reality, invention, time. In Wetlands, Bernier gifts us a marvelous, soulful collection.
—Kristin Ferragut, author of Escape Velocity
Clifford Bernier takes the reader on a river journey in this extended meditation on the nature of being and the being of nature. On the surface, Wetlands contains a sequence of short poems — beneath that surface, Wetlands contains a cosmos. The work acts as an extended zen koan, gently prodding the reader toward an understanding of the essential interdependency of life. Join Clifford Bernier as he walks along the water’s edge, following the river to the sea.
—Luther Jett, author of Flying to America
About the Author
Clifford Bernier’s The Silent Art won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook, and of Ocean Suite. His collection Bakary and the River is forthcoming. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection among other print and on-line journals and anthologies. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. He has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Publication Date: March 15, 2025
Paperback, 38 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-98-1
The wetlands of the title of Clifford Bernier’s deceptively gentle chapbook are specifically the region around the James River in Virginia, but as he announces in his opening poem, the “River” here really is a metaphor, a locus from which the reader is invited to “invent yourself / but without restrictions.” Many of these poems are in the voices of the animals that inhabit the region, conveying such natural wisdom as “The groundhog told the otter / you are meaning simply by being” – and that the act of being arises out of the creative tension on the boundaries of the “real and not-real,” of “time and the / absence of time.” Like “The Sad King” crushed by the weight of the world, we are bidden to “leave the crumbling castle // wander in the wild” until it is time to take leave of the James, “where the river turns to rest, / singing with the singing earth.”
Praise for Clifford Bernier & Wetlands
In the style of Chinese brushstroke painting, Clifford Bernier expresses in this compact collection called Wetlands the appreciation of being. Nature speaks to him and others as it simultaneously speaks to itself. This thoughtfully rendered work is a musician’s meditation of song and dance set mostly in the wetlands of Virginia’s James River.
—Karren LaLonde Alenier, author of How We Hold On
With Wetlands, Clifford Bernier weaves a tapestry of natural and philosophical wonder out of the James River and its environs. His poems sing with the voices of birds, flow with the currents of rivers and breathe the rustle of leaves in the wind. Underlying the natural wonder of his poetic landscape which is set out in luminous detail, Bernier offers meditations on the self, being, and the majesty of the imagination. Come to Wetlands for its visual imagery, stay for the timeless reflections of this talented poet.
—Henry Crawford, author of Binary Planet
In his beautiful, lyrical collection, Clifford Bernier makes surprising connections that put the reader at the crossroads of contradiction on one level, while above and below, meanings in images resonate as clear and true. Through witness of the natural world, capturing a Taoist-like feel of reverence and movement, Bernier reveals understandings of human relevance — imagination, reality, invention, time. In Wetlands, Bernier gifts us a marvelous, soulful collection.
—Kristin Ferragut, author of Escape Velocity
Clifford Bernier takes the reader on a river journey in this extended meditation on the nature of being and the being of nature. On the surface, Wetlands contains a sequence of short poems — beneath that surface, Wetlands contains a cosmos. The work acts as an extended zen koan, gently prodding the reader toward an understanding of the essential interdependency of life. Join Clifford Bernier as he walks along the water’s edge, following the river to the sea.
—Luther Jett, author of Flying to America
About the Author
Clifford Bernier’s The Silent Art won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook, and of Ocean Suite. His collection Bakary and the River is forthcoming. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection among other print and on-line journals and anthologies. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. He has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.
Publication Date: March 15, 2025
Paperback, 38 pages
ISBN: 978-1-956782-98-1
The wetlands of the title of Clifford Bernier’s deceptively gentle chapbook are specifically the region around the James River in Virginia, but as he announces in his opening poem, the “River” here really is a metaphor, a locus from which the reader is invited to “invent yourself / but without restrictions.” Many of these poems are in the voices of the animals that inhabit the region, conveying such natural wisdom as “The groundhog told the otter / you are meaning simply by being” – and that the act of being arises out of the creative tension on the boundaries of the “real and not-real,” of “time and the / absence of time.” Like “The Sad King” crushed by the weight of the world, we are bidden to “leave the crumbling castle // wander in the wild” until it is time to take leave of the James, “where the river turns to rest, / singing with the singing earth.”
Praise for Clifford Bernier & Wetlands
In the style of Chinese brushstroke painting, Clifford Bernier expresses in this compact collection called Wetlands the appreciation of being. Nature speaks to him and others as it simultaneously speaks to itself. This thoughtfully rendered work is a musician’s meditation of song and dance set mostly in the wetlands of Virginia’s James River.
—Karren LaLonde Alenier, author of How We Hold On
With Wetlands, Clifford Bernier weaves a tapestry of natural and philosophical wonder out of the James River and its environs. His poems sing with the voices of birds, flow with the currents of rivers and breathe the rustle of leaves in the wind. Underlying the natural wonder of his poetic landscape which is set out in luminous detail, Bernier offers meditations on the self, being, and the majesty of the imagination. Come to Wetlands for its visual imagery, stay for the timeless reflections of this talented poet.
—Henry Crawford, author of Binary Planet
In his beautiful, lyrical collection, Clifford Bernier makes surprising connections that put the reader at the crossroads of contradiction on one level, while above and below, meanings in images resonate as clear and true. Through witness of the natural world, capturing a Taoist-like feel of reverence and movement, Bernier reveals understandings of human relevance — imagination, reality, invention, time. In Wetlands, Bernier gifts us a marvelous, soulful collection.
—Kristin Ferragut, author of Escape Velocity
Clifford Bernier takes the reader on a river journey in this extended meditation on the nature of being and the being of nature. On the surface, Wetlands contains a sequence of short poems — beneath that surface, Wetlands contains a cosmos. The work acts as an extended zen koan, gently prodding the reader toward an understanding of the essential interdependency of life. Join Clifford Bernier as he walks along the water’s edge, following the river to the sea.
—Luther Jett, author of Flying to America
About the Author
Clifford Bernier’s The Silent Art won the Gival Press Poetry Award. He is also the author of Dark Berries and Earth Suite, each selected by the Montserrat Review as a Best Chapbook, and of Ocean Suite. His collection Bakary and the River is forthcoming. He appears in The Write Blend poetry circle collection among other print and on-line journals and anthologies. In addition, Mr. Bernier appears on harmonica in the Portuguese Accumulated Dust world music series and is featured on the EP Post-Columbian America. He has been featured in readings in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington, DC area, including the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, George Washington University (where he is a member of the Washington Writer’s Collection) and the Bethesda Writer’s Center. He has been a reader for the Washington Prize and a judge for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud recitation contest. From 2003-2008 he hosted the Poesis reading series in Arlington, Virginia and performed with the Jazzpoetry band at venues in and around Washington, DC. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and a Best of the Net Award. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.