Below,
Water-worn
Dry stone bones,
Loose in rheumy mud gums.
A shepherd’s shieling, uncovered
By humming sun
And streams-stopped-running.
Earthbound pottery ossicles
Litter a river-licked,
Slick loch bottom,
Flanked by Ochil hills
And the bulking hulk
Of Upper Glendevon Dam.
Above,
Bruised cumuli hang ribboned between the hill heads,
Broiling, born amongst corries and high-strewn boulders.
A rumble, and rain films on the moors,
Through suddenly sodden fleece and field,
Flicked and shivered from huddled feathers,
Amidst the peat banks and the tufted grass,
Guttering, gathered in the crooked dykes –
Trickling in earshot but out of sight, and
Rushing underneath the dog-eared booms.
Below,
A rippling, a gathering pour,
A foetal push onto cracked reservoir floor.
At the shieling, moor-cold, alluvial fingers grope between weathered stone joints,
Curling under where eaves once hung.
*Thanks for reading, folks. Image courtesy of Rob Burke. My recent short stories include ‘Digging‘ and ‘After‘.
Matthew Richardson is a writer of short stories. His work has featured in Gold Dust magazine, Literally Stories, Close to the Bone, McStorytellers, Penny Shorts, Soft Cartel, Whatever Keeps the Lights On, Flashback Fiction, Cafelit, Best MicroFiction 2021, Writer’s Egg, Idle Ink, The Wild Word, and Shooter magazine. He is a doctoral student at the University of Dundee, a lucky husband, and a proud father. He blogs at www.matthewjrichardson.com and tweets at https://twitter.com/mjrichardso0.
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Another great write, My Friend, and imbued with such wonderful imagery.
Thanks Goff!
I really enjoy your clever writing, Matthew, your images are splendid.
Thanks, Chris. Rejected by a couple of poetry mags/comps but I was quite pleased with how this turned out nonetheless.
Shame about the rejection but it’s a fickle place. I think it’s a great poem.
I love the strong physicality of this poem, Matthew; going to reward myself with a second reading and look up words like ‘shieling’ —
Thanks John. I loved that word myself, definitely one to use again!
Oh, my! I missed this one when you first posted it. I think it’s incredibly strong. I hope you’ll keep seeking a home for it.
Thanks Annie. Longer form poetry isn’t usually something I turn to but I quite enjoyed the exercise of writing this.
A most worthy exercise!