La mala hora

In front of me she did roam Slowly but I was not surprised Her dress a bridal oneAlmost taking her balance Chestnut hair flowing in the night Windless though it was Something not quite right Her face too veiled for evening Sweet words carried on the windA bell clanged dull and dankTerror now my belly did findAnd of a sudden I realised There were no feet striking ground A floating woman was what I…

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Bodach

I stand here awaiting you Walk towards me slowly until You can see me unhidden against The trees that shelter my form. I’m here in plain sight daily But do you listen? As the Bodach awaits you Do you think I cannot see? What do you expect as I encompass Your being, first left, now right Lifting your face to mineYour body shaking in fear of a fateBut it cannot tear itself away from me My eyes see…

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Creeping season

Slowly, quietly the days creep forward The nights darken with ever faster depth What were skies of varying shades Suddenly deepest navy or ink black That nothing can penetrate. The chill in the air passing through sunshine As everyone remarks on Autumn’s arrival Pulling a coat about them for warmth The fire set to warm their bones As they wonder if it’s too soon, just yet. Walking they…

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Picture Prompt from Punk Noir magazine

#PicturePrompt from #PunkNoirmagazine @punk_magazine @ailsacawley @AngiPlant

Warehouse Warning Flash Fiction 300 words or less picture prompt I climbed through the hole in the wall, it’d been used as a get away so many times to escape the police. Years ago. The market was disused and nobody would find me here. If they did I knew what would happen. I’d seen what happened to the people that crossed these guys. It wasn’t pretty.  Keeping low and slow all the way through…

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Galaxy

Galaxy by Ailsa Cawley written for Ekphrastic Poetry Challenge run by Paul Brookes at The Wombwell Rainbow @PaulDragonwolf1

You told me that I was above myself With friends who had dreams Of things you didn’t understand And nor should I Things were shrunken into the uniform Sludge brown of your world Every time a green shoot showed You’d STAMP on it until crushed Broken you’d say So intent were you on the world around you That you didn’t manage To break my imagination and I hid it down so deep until I…

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In the middle distance

There in the distance I see the shape A person wanders hillsides they should not be on Something stops me from checking A shiver, a tingle down the spine As they dance and weave disappear Between the trees. They are there then gone and reappear A pale light beckons as an imitation moon Caresses the earth and the air I am drawn to a place I’d not usually go Their presence pulling me on a…

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The Ghosts of Duntulm Castle

You will I’m sure have heard of the ghost of Duntulm Castle. I’ll specify which I mean, as there are a few keeping one another company. If each of them wailing can be classed as companionship.  The one I mean is the nursemaid who was set adrift in a boat, as punishment for the death of her young charge, who fell from the window of the castle and was killed.    This is what really happened that…

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The last night

I should feel relieved that you’re finally going. And I am. Except I don’t really believe it, yet. From first being honest enough to say the words that I want you to leave and go back to your place there’s been a barrage of bloody everything. Texts from you. Your sister. People accosting me in the street. Outside the church. For fucks sake you’re a grown man. Accept it and leave me the fuck…

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As a star

As a star You watched me there at the window Laughing at my dreams, hopes Of something you couldn’t see All of it unimaginable in your world Where nobody thinks they can try And break from the normal drudge You weren’t watching on the day I looked up transfixed at the beauty Even though death was what I saw A shooting star burning bright Dust, burning rock dust shining In it’s death throes And I…

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Awakening

Sitting here I wait for the right time to show My face to you each season Now I’m young again the reborn one Of our pack no longer hobbling on The stick taken from a branch to aid me As the final season aches my back so I appear withered when I’m merely tired In need of sleep so I can return and help The maiden when she wakes from her sleep Stretching out in all her splendour Fingers crooking and…

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No change

Darling remember carry your keys In your hand sharp end out And if they come, when they do Fight for all you’re worth Take them down, out, run Her grandmother said Sweetheart watch for ones who stalk Look at you like prey Make your skin crawl When they come, kick scratch bite You’re in the fight for your life I might not be there Her father said Decades later it’s ingrained To have to be more…

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Deeper than the surface

I ask you to look below the surface To base your thoughts on other goals Not money, glory and gain Yet you look at me and see a waste A foolish waste of space looking at People who matter Telling you that the waste is ignoring The things before your eyes Looking at need not greed The deeper than surface things That mean you really have to look But never just glance To care, help, look at another…

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Waste

You leave it for someone else Your plastic that infiltrates the sea That poisons the lives of the fish Aquatic life swimming below I see you don’t care yet what if That poison comes to your table What then? When it’s too late to take back The waste you left behind Because it harmed your child Wife, husband, sister, friend When you have hastened our end. Ailsa ©️AilsaCawleyPoetry2020

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Waste of time

He snatched it from her hands Faint smile upon his face As though mildly impressed Then advanced cutting space. Her feelings had been given life On a world on these pages And this is what you’re doing The look in his eyes raged She smiled still hoping for understanding A moment where he’d utter Where he’d see her need to write Then she saw them, the shutters They crashed down so silently They…

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Blanket Days ~ for a friend.

Hunkered down Pull a blanket around Hide in a warm cocoon Where tea flows And nobody knows If you’re staying or leaving soon. Take a blanket day Ease the cares away Running everything to ground As you nourish your soul Stop the world grabbing hold Stay invisible to the crowd Give to yourself the things You’re suggesting for others Treat your own body carefully As if that of a lover You’re filling…

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What you see

With thanks to Paul Brookes at the wombwellrainbow.Wordpress.com for the ekphrastic January challenge. Picture credit Kerfe Roig ‘handeye’ Every time you look at me you glance At your hand and I imagine That in the centre is an eye Because you say the same thing I see in an all knowing way Generally you don’t see, but it’s said The expected comment to pretend at Listening to what’s being…

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Flame in the snow

My feet are blue with cold As I trudge the snowy hills To find the signs of those gone Ahead leaving wispy wisdom Like golden coins in the drifts Of feather like flakes Heart thudding as I hear a whisper It is your turn to pick up the baton The lit torch in your path Forge on with it, it’s magical light Guide for head and heart My feet cold no longer I see I am clad in shoes to protect A cloak…

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