Paul Bavister

Prison Visit

When he got locked up
we found Guy’s Marsh on the map
and thought it would be easy to reach.
We set off on a Christmas visit –
train to Gillingham,
bus to Shaftesbury,
then a three-mile walk.
We got scared at how trucks
drove so close on the lanes
so we cut across country
and got lost in muddy fields
and gloomy woods.
We broke through
to a smaller lane
that went the wrong way
and landed on a busy road
back up the hill
to Shaftesbury.
We’d missed visiting time
and the last bus
back to Gillingham,
so we mooched around
until we spotted a couple
of old boys outside Tesco’s
and hung out with them
then went back to their flat.
We raised a couple of cans
to the old man
and felt certain
our Christmas wishes
swept down through
cold dark woods
to the cell
where we imagined him reading
one of the books he loved –
Dickens or something like that.
Guy’s Marsh
is not an easy place
to visit.

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Paul Bavister has published three poetry collections with Two Rivers Press, most recently The Prawn Season. His work has appeared in Oxford Poetry, The Rialto, The North, Butcher’s Dog, and Dark Winter.