Tag: Poetry

Cobble and Cloud | Haiku

Autumn has arrived in Scotland this week with the coming of Storm Agnes. I have a couple of thematic haiku, although we’re not quite in frosty territory just yet…

A cobbled street lit by streetlights on a misty night

Cobble

Ribbons of coal smoke

Low over cobbled closes,

Under icy eaves.

Read more: Cobble and Cloud | Haiku
Clogged gutters in a rainstorm

Cloud

Gutters brim-full with

Birds’ nests and leaves, moss and mulch.

Bruised clouds overhead.

*Thanks for reading, folks. Images courtesy of Brock Roseberry and Alan Devine. My recent short stories include ‘Little Daily Miracles‘ and ‘Those Abroad‘.

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.

Claw and Quieten | Haiku

I was able to make the titles of my haiku alliterative this week, so all is well in the world again. We’re hanging off the trees and running through rock this week…

Leaves beginning to turn in autumn

Claw

Slow, first withering.

A once-plush leaf beginning

To claw, to crumple

Read more: Claw and Quieten | Haiku
Stacked slates

Quieten

Subterranean

Run through slate-laden strata,

Through long-quietened mines.

*Thanks for reading, folks. images courtesy of George Hodan and Spodzone. My recent short stories include ‘The Lamplighter‘ and ‘Those Abroad‘.

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.

Bristle and Mulch | Haiku

Morning folks,

whilst I usually like to utilise alliteration or assonance in my double-haiku titles, this week’s creations simply wouldn’t go that way, hence the below, slightly idiosyncratic, pairing…

A field of wheat against a blue sky

Bristle

Bristled, finger-brushed,

Wind-shifted and sun-beaten.

Pale green to yellow.

Read more: Bristle and Mulch | Haiku
Compost maker

Mulch

Plant pot remains, damp

Cuttings and dinner leavings.

From messy to mulched.

*Thanks for reading, folks. Former image Copyright Matthew J. Richardson. Second image courtesy of Wikipedia. My recent short stories include ‘The Lamplighter‘ 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.

Shrill and Swell | Haiku

A couple of salt-flecked haiku this morning…

Shrill

Shrill-whistled calling.

Wheeling white, black, and orange –

Oystercatcher’s flight.

Swell

Double-flash…dark.

A paraffin carousel

On Atlantic swell.

*Thanks for reading, folks. Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Chris Downer. 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.

Drought and Spate at Upper Glendevon | Poetry

Upper Glendevon Dam

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.

Winnow and Worn | Haiku

Line of flying geese in a v-shape

Morning folks,

A couple of spring/summer haiku for consumption today…

Line of flying geese

Winnow

Geese skein winnowing

Across a low, scudding sky.

Thrumming, northwards-bound.

Worn

Summer putter of

River water gutter and

Foam on smooth worn rock.

*Thanks for reading, folks. Image courtesy of Pxhere and Pxfuel. My recent short stories include ‘Wean’s Crabbit‘ and ‘Property for Sale – Grim-on-Wye’.

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

In the Ribboned Fog | Poetry

A leaf covered in hoar frost

In the ribboned fog of a February daybreak, dog barks stilt strangely in the dank air. Hoar frost clings to raw-fingered branches and to the tortured holly. What leaves are left from autumn’s mulch sit skeleton and crisp, drifted in between tree roots or huddled at the entrances to abandoned setts. Clouds scud over the lightening sky, looking upon their skulking brethren clinging to the dells and corries below. A time for paperboys and farmers, milk floats and commuters huddled bitter at some rural bus stop. The sensible stay put – the foxes in their underground fugues, the hares in frozen, clod-circled forms.

Continue reading “In the Ribboned Fog | Poetry” →