Northwords Now

New writing, fresh from Scotland and the wider North
Sgrìobhadh ùr à Alba agus an Àird a Tuath

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Wheelbarrow

after William Carlos Williams

by Sharon Black

Ours is green with a battered lip, a dribbling        
of old cement, speckles of rust.

It’s parked beside the patio doors – red
curtain hoiked to one side – glazed

with a kind of stoicism. White chickens            
scratch through nettles outside.

So much depends on this one too –
piled with logs of ash and oak and a toupée

of dead broom, it’s the measure
of our winter warmth:

flames sketch out our daughters        
sprawled at homework, our three cats

curled in their favourite chairs,
you and I trying to kindle         

words and sentences, to make amends
until one of us must brave the cold

to clack across the doorsill,
set the chassis on the floor.

Northwords Now acknowledges the vital support of Creative Scotland and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
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