Nancy leeved in a sma warldin a sma fermnae faur frae a sma toon.She hud sma ettlins.Clivver is she wis, there wis naethinshe wintit mairthin tae wirk the ferm. It wis a sair trauchlemulkin coos, thinnin neeps,howdiein caufs, begowkin the todthit keepit is ill ee on hir chookies.The sonsiest hingmy in Nancy’s sma warldwis er […]
Autumn slidders inback hame, auld hauntsCorries in an settles dounIt’s nae strangerkens yir faither, richt backThe leafs faseelent smoutheThe snaw creeps dounwarton thon braes ahint the tounA win’ comes upblawin strang an bauldThe leafs leave, an winter crowls in
I hate seagullsbut let me tell you thiswhen this one banked in the colossal shadowof the high-riseit had all the slide guitar in the world behind it.A wonderful thing,the not-so-green grass and the longriver soundand even the old merciless Sunlet the air string a breeze through it. Lately, I am uneasy.Here, I declare my love […]
The saints are crying in the wind, can’t you hear them?Only the cries of the wing borne sing out,oystercatcher, skylark, ploverand corncrake. This too may be an answer.The saints are letting their tears fall, a gentle cascadeof green marble, don’t you hear them clatter together?Only the sound of the surf in the shingle, and the […]
[Golf was popular among prisoners of the Polish POW camp during WW2. This ball is housed in the World Golf Museum, St Andrews.] Polished khaki, stitchedfrom strips of leather bootsstuffed tight with sand, cotton, or whittled pine—whatever they could find—bound in rubber from tobacco pouches,the shell of leather sewn as neatlyas the seaming on a […]
Shui Hau Tonight you’re not dried and flat,blending into the road.You croak like no one’s watching,loud, multiple—among you, there’s this ridiculous laughter,surround sound of abracadabra, abracadabra,distinct, almost like a mockeryto the itchy factthat our blood is your food’s foodby the thick, green soupof your lotus leaves and children,some of which will never grow.We thought you […]
There are too many momentsthat we forgetthat there is a warthat bombs and shellsand the dead fallelsewhere.My son asksif he will be put on a trainif he will be sent to a campif he will have to wear a starand leave usI say to him nonot todaynot yetnot us.
Found in ankle-length wet fescuein the centre of the field by the wood.Not dropped from a height or discardedin a rush but carefully placed side by sidelying comfortable together as old lovers dowith the best of their years behind them.There was no one around but the windshaking conversations from the trees;no clues either to arrival […]
It should have been easy to travel from the eastgate to the west, but I have a dark northern mindand drifted towards the early afternoon twilight.The path lost its bearings somewhere betweenthe Glasshouse, the Arboretum and the ChineseHillside, and soon had become a field as vastas a football pitch, eerily floodlit, with onedappled cow munching […]
there’s no one in the flat next dooralthoughsometimes I can hearthe key turning in the lockas they come to see if there are any lettersor phone books or to make sure everything isthe way it should be,or to walkthe silent kitchen, bathroom,lounge slash dining area,bedroom, hallway and acrossthe landingthere’s a couple in their fortieswith a […]
Mary sat beside me with the edge of the fire in her eyesShe said, Absolutely mental howeverything around you will change You think you’re sitting stillbut you’re actually flying She had attempted to sweepher flame damaged hairinto a style that resembled normal It hadn’t worked The hair puffedlike a deranged haloSo scary it made me […]
He sings full beam –clear to the Ocean of Storms and shoalsof stars from undersongs, shiveringconstellations – lythe, saithe and sandeel.In the small hours inner reflections turnwith the mirrored lens, gannets splinter,glance off waves of prismatic glass.His psalmody voices sway and swell,the guillemot’s tremulous hi riri o, his tongue is silvered, shattered surf,coruscating puirt à […]
