Today’s haiku offerings were heavily influenced by a rather wild walk in the Kilpatrick hills, north of Glasgow a couple of days ago. The wind was courtesy of Storm Malik, and ensured that the first part of the hike was carried out at a 45-degree angle!

Heather
Buffet and billow.
Wind fingers dragged through heather.
Woody roots cling on.

Hollow
Brackish water lays
In peat hollows, foot-formed.
Sky grey ripples stir.
Things I’ve read this week…
Perhaps it was the atmospheric bleakness of the Kilpatrick hills putting me in a certain frame of mind, but I found Wordlander’s article on Combe Gibbet a really engaging and informative piece. Her discussion of the murky truth behind the naming of such a grim spot was excellent.
‘Where Winter Lies‘ by Michael Erickson perhaps describes the same howling wind that so buffeted me north of Glasgow. There is some beautiful language in this poem, finishing with an ethereal, shivering line.
*Thanks for reading, folks. Images courtesy of Stephen Sweeney and Wikipedia.*
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, 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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You pen your paired haikus with such mastery, Matthew, and these two are no exception. I enjoyed Michael’s poem and had a lovely poke about on Rachel’s site. Thanks for the intros!
Thanks Chris. It was a long way to go for thirty-eight syllables but glad they were okay!
Spot on!
Two more great haiku and so beautifully penned, Matthew.
Thanks Goff. Very much appreciated!
Cheers.
Great haikus. I enjoyed. Thanks.
Thanks Selma!
Super, as always, Matthew. The first one reminded me of the “hurricane lizards” that are adapting to climate change.😉 I wrote about them today.
Thanks Annie. Sounds fascinating. I shall be right over to educate myself!
loved them both , individually and as contrast to the other —
Thanks John – very much appreciated.
Beautiful haiku! Well written thanks 🙂👌
Thanks so much Priti – very much appreciated!
You are welcome 😊👌stay blessed 💕❤
Nice, Matthew. ‘Foot-formed’is great. Cheers!
Thanks Peter. Always much appreciated!
👍
never tried hiking at a 45 degree angle: that would be a challenge 🙂 you allude to it well in ‘Heather’ —
😀 Perhaps an exaggeration on my part! It certainly felt like 45 degrees!