Dark Berries by Clifford Bernier (2009)

 

Dark Berries 

Clifford Bernier

Pudding House Press

Columbus, OH

(c)2009

This is a case of "a fleeting moment". I actually got to know Clifford since we lived in the same part of Virginia and he would attend poetry readings that I had been curating a number of years ago locally. He often played a harmonica during his reading/performances. I did not know him well enough to know that he had had some health issues and was surprised to hear of his death in May of 2025. 

A few days ago I saw this chapbook of his at a library nearby and picked it up. It seems to have been his first book of poetry. The Press, Pudding House Press, was a mainstay of Ohio based poets for years until the owner began ill and died. Pudding House ceased operations around 2017. 

Both the poet and the Press are dust in the wind. But this testament of their combined efforts remains. And have now been acknowledged.