For AnneMarte, Rachael, Sheila and Margaret This years apple blossom has not yet fruited, But tonight, indoors, As the rain pours, We sing an apple melody. I fish out my apple dress And we hang knitted apples round our ears And dance with Coxes – right hand, left hand Remembering teeth and tits, The Apple […]

Raindrops fat as ripened peas Bounce off newly born Oak leaves, The green sheen of May On a rainbow kind of day, Then petrochar! 05/19

Suilven, the mountain that all post-menopausal women need to climb before they die, rises a sturdy breast of tough Quarzite to the sky. And down she came, in a yellow buttoned blouse and cream Craghoppers. I’ll call her Edy, because now all women with gritty determination, willing to crawl on hands and knees for the […]

I want to rip up your flipchart, Stick your post-its in the bin, Mess up your straightened hair, Wave my unshaved legs in the air. I’m done with this posh room consultation, This air conditioned lack of imagination. Let’s find a bigger dream than this room can hold, Be bold as the roses climbing the […]

Seven days after the solstice on these Assynt beaches, beneath the mighty reach of Canisp, Suilven, Cul Beag, Cul Mor and Stac Polaidh, the days have been stretched out like an uncoiled phone cable, and the day-nights are so bright I read at midnight. Light enters from all sides. My swim along Loch Druim Suardalain […]

Each step a new cloud, Each puff of cloud a new vision, Each droplet of water a new freshening, Each blink a new puff 07/19

Sometimes As I plod left right on a rocky climb In the hot morning air I wish I was already there The lake water fanning out my hair, Or lying on a soft mattress drifting into dream And then I see the burst of a blue gentian beside a purple Iris And my mind melts […]

Mountains high as my hope Lakes deep as my fear Sun strong as my resolve Streams clear as my mind 07/19

Will you be my rhubarb pal? Do you love that sharp kick, The pinkish skin on sticks that grow Lickety split as the sun rises in the sky? Will you join me in a crumble, a fool, Stewed with ginger, Letting the taste linger a little On the tongue? Will you be my rhubarb pal? […]

After each steep climb, the col, After each scorched day, the night, After each parched throat, the source, After each wooded glen, the sun After each breath, a step, After each step, a breath 07/19