The runners-up in the 2024 Creatives Flash Poetry Contest, kindly supported by Fort William Mountain Festival and the Highland Bookshop. The theme for this category was ‘Soundscapes’.
Orion and the Vast Silence
by Bruce Shaw
At the bergschrund, a pause.
The Allt a’ Mhuilinn continued to argue
its way downstream. Resting,
I wondered if the corries and gullies
whispered glacial secrets in the shadows
but could hear none,
just the sound of a rapid heartbeat
and laboured breath
in the vast silence.
Meltwater trickled,
Orion blinked an echo.
Family Climb
by EmmaClaire Brightlyn
Between footsteps and birdsong and wind through trees
Breath
Mine, keeping pace with blood pumping
lungs pumping
arms pumping to climb
Theirs, keeping time with conversation
unhindered by walls and streets
And now
Yours…
Discovering aloud each rock / stick / flower
Lichen piece I have missed
Precocious and perfect
Breaths filled with air touching clouds
released to the view
Lead image: Massimiliano Morosinotto on Unsplash