Robin Lindsay Wilson

Loch Doon, East Ayrshire

dreich above and below dreich between the pines so that family conversation is a smirr of complaint

dreich on Craigmulloch dreich across the dam dreich filling the castle

dreich until it rains

then a slow line of shivers heads for the carpark to stand around the Skoda in waterproofs and hoods comparing runoff drips on side windows and mirrors

a pronoun for my father a verb for my Aunt Nan a mumble for Uncle Bob a conjunction for my mother and an expletive for me the words hitting our boots and joining on the camber of polished brown leather until they find each other

Loch Ba, Rannoch Moor

when it all comes to nothing when it all ends in desolation here is what I promised you

some new kind of beauty Loch Creran, Argyll white pebbles first then black seaweed before an inky scribble geese landing behind lichen in mountain ash lichen on common gneiss we spread waterproofs between the sheep shit and share The Herald scanning Brexit views

but loch Creran starts its slew of cold tide –suddenly we look up to steady ourselves

do we belong here if we resist the sea? do we belong here if we let the pages go? the loch makes news but not in our time the loch makes news but not where we are the loch makes news without our headlines

we both stand to release and stretch

sit to watch again