The Winter Visitor - by
The pheasant appeared in the days / when winter was wet and grey. Red wattle / and bottle-green head declaring his arrival.
birds
A Gift of Doves - by
I am knocked for six as a pair / of collared doves crash-land with a flurry / and wreak havoc like two busty floozies
Goldcrest - by
You email of a goldcrest, drawn
by your window light, this fresh spring
to watch you write.
Wild Geese Across The Moon - by
Reeds, snake-like, coiled in the mistWhere the low fog drives:The muddy cough of the stream that strivesTo free its throat from the clot of reed,As they fight it out the water and the weed—While the fog, above, takes turn and twist:Men, these are your lives! Wild Geese across the moon:As some hand that unrollsAnd scratches […]
The Twa Corbies - by
As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t’other say,
‘Where sall we gang and dine to-day?’
Bereavement Counselling from Murdoch of Blackbyres - by
Listen, back in ‘74
I shot a crow with such force
its body cannoned into its partner,
dropped the pair from the sky.
The Second Coming - by
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
The Wren’s Nest - by
The Robin cam to the wren’s nest
And keekit in and keekit in.
yellowhammer - by
Box work
Lord of All - by
He is the lord of all he surveys, eventhough it is not that much, less than an acre of lawn and a handful of trees. Still, he likes to keep his beady eye on things, his feathery finger on the pulse. Even if just a single sparrow stirs, he likes to know about it. You […]
excerpt from Farm by the Shore - by
small oats rye bere barley
ripe harvest in late summer
a shallow ploughing
grazing and fallow in rotation
To Margaret on a Monday - by
I saw you from my window, Margaret.
/ I was watching the seagulls swooping the sky.
/ The seagulls, I was telling myself, know
/ today…