Ploom #078 Recovered Liane McKay A bee hums over jaggy tips of gorse.The ferns have unclenched their fists and they tickle me green as I pass.Clouds sweep the horizon, puffedas if the same crystallised breath we blew out at the year’s end. I remember staring from the windowthrough January grey at dead hillsides, mute and drainedof colour and […]
Ploom #077 Precious dusk NL Whiteley silver opaline sky polished by bats in fingerprint-whirl flight NL Whiteley NL Whiteley is an office manager from London. She started writing during Covid lockdowns and hasn’t stopped yet!
Ploom #076 Dandelion Michael Finney A child reaches a hand to the grasspicks a puff of seedsdraws it to their lipsand blows. We scatter on the breezeas dandelion milk stickies a hand.The stalk is cast away. The year turns.When we have settled, the child reaches againwith a secret smilepicks another dandelion puffand blows. Michael Finney Michael
Ploom #074 Dance of the Midges Nikita Parik Lying skywards on a wooded bench by the loch, eyes looking up at an evening descending, an explosion of ebony forming & unforming galaxies in shifting spirals: now a DNA now a bird’s nest, now the shape of a serpentine river that flows through this city, until
Ploom #072 An experiment with ChatGPT Amidst Scotland’s embrace, soor plooms, a taste of grace. Sour petals, hues so bright, unveiling flavours, pure delight. Childhood whispers, secrets shared, tongues tingling, memories bared. In sweetness found, a soul blooms, soor plooms, love’s sweet perfumes. Editor’s note Intrigued about the growing field of artificial intelligence and learned
Ploom #069 Time Katy Ewing I’m using A.I. to colourise old photos, my late dad as a toddler, suddenly his knitted jersey and underpants made of coloured wool, not just a texture of greys, his curls golden, his cheeky smile brought alive and maybe even more astonishing, the lawn and hedges green and living, lifted
Ploom #068 Faltering May Sharpe Drip tap Tick clock Heart beat Drip tap Beep chirp Heart beat Tap tick Clock beep Tick drip Heart beat Drip tap Tick clock Heart May Sharpe May Sharpe is based in the Cotswolds where she teaches in a primary school when not working on her ‘whodunnit’ novel.
Ploom #066 Dawn Chorus NL Whiteley Disgruntled awakewhile my lovely, sweet, charming, cherished partnersnores great honking snorts NL Whiteley NL Whiteley is an office manager from London. She started writing during Covid lockdowns and hasn’t stopped yet!
Ploom #065 My Best Friend Catherine McKinlay You’re the always-burning scented candle on my desk You’re that constant trace of peppermint or lavender You bring calm even when I don’t know I can smell you Catherine McKinlay An English teacher based in Glasgow, Catherine McKinlay has always written but fell in love with writing poetry
Ploom #064 Bluebells Ian McDonough The bluebells are out spotting the wood like a beautiful plague. And this little stream has spent all its winter water. What happened to my days? In hunting glory I missed that they were running, bright and sparkling, through my outstretched hands. But the bluebells are out spotting the wood
