From a photo as part of the Edinburgh Science Festival on Portobello Prom 25/03/20 Open your mouth and roar, Jarl, roar! With flame and splintering Nordic wave, Creak of oar and salt-cracked skin Open your mouth and roar, Jarl, roar! Open your mouth and roar, Jarl, roar! To the grey clouds scudding the sky, To […]
Sunrise Swim
27/05/20 Sea, sand and sky are bled through with dawn inking night into day as we bathe washing pink water over necks and thighs toes burning with the cold of the new morning striding into the water into the day into the moment to swim out once more into the pink of ourselves
Where Did The Hope Go?
8/04/20 Where did the hope go? It went to the kale and carrot and courgette, lifting hands from the dark earth in silent prayer Where did the hope go? It went to the wren and redstart and robin, weaving songs round the budding willow Where did the hope go? It went to the birch and […]
What Did You Do?
13/04/20 Where were you in the lockdown? Town or country, river or sea? How many miles sailed by as you pushed the pedals, growling at cyclists who didn’t know 2 metres? How many birds sang into your lunch in the home-office garden? Did you know your blackbird from your Wren? Did the kids make a […]
Wash Your Hands
Pandemic truths 6/04/20 Yesterday I washed my hands 22 times Soapy bubbles and hot, hot water, rubbing every cell, scrubbing under every nail But old grandfather death will not dissolve in the lather, or flow in a gentle swirl; down the plug-hole And we cannot wash away the scars of forests felled or wash the […]
Walking Up Arthur’s seat
19/04/20 A surprised train rumbles past, with four carriages of fuel, and earlier the number 26 bus, bubbled along, not very fast, two passengers huddled in their own socially distanced space, stared through murky glass at the emptied street, both bleak and lovely. The air seems clean and bright and fresh, and the sun makes […]
Uncertainties in a Pandemic
5/4/20 I don’t know which bird will sing first tomorrow morning from the pear tree but I know the open-throated song of tiny Wren and Robin’s trill I don’t know how many clouds it takes to raise a storm, but I can smell the soft animal of rain before the drops fall I don’t know […]
This is the Spring
16/04/20 This is the spring when YoYo Ma played Dvorjak to a cartoon of cows from his kitchen This is the spring when the Kanneh-Mason family live-streamed Beethoven’s 3rd piano concerto from their living room This is the spring of Folk on Foot’s front room festival and online gigs with awful sound and National theatre […]
Coronavirus Cyclist Rage
Coronavirus cyclist rage 21/04/20 I have thought of carrying a broomstick, on my morning ride, stretched out from the handlebars, to sweep you away – maybe one on each side. This morning again I duck and dive, glaring at your unbending glide past, I bump onto the rough grass and as you pass anger burns […]
P’s funeral
15/04/20 No big room No hugs No journeys by rail, air and sea No sharing of cake and tea No photos round the room. But this afternoon we zoomed into the crack between life and death and together we rested in your love reflected back to you wherever you are – in the rocks you […]