Thomas A. Clark is one of Scotland’s most distinctive writers, a vivid minimalist, ruralist and experimentalist. His collection, Thrums, will make you halt and pay attention to each moment. Please enjoy this selection.

Thrums
By Thomas A. Clark
Published by Carcanet

rise early
stir the oatmeal
breathe on the embers
of unchanging change

climb out through the window
the sea is at the door

*

a mare browsing gorse blossom
deer at the snowdrops

footprint
of crushed
dewdrops

*

in mountain top detritus
berries form from clouds
snow crystals melt
into starry saxifrage

*

better than knowledge
than understanding
is lightness
access or ease

retreat of a glacier
removal of a weight

***

sally is a willow
jean is a gean
holly is a holly
hazel is a hazel
daphne is a laurel

who knows how

*

trees love to hide
from form and inference
in shade and nuance
with leaves and bark
with rings of years
they cover themselves
pull the pendulant
undulant canopy
down around you
trees love to hide
then leap out
and catch you

*

the dancers exceed the measure
they dance away from the figure
from a round a jig a gavotte
teach gravity without weight

you speckled wood
you wild thyme
you mourning dove
you downy willow
you

*

the alder is trembling
the willow is weeping
the pine is pining
the oak is aching
not for this or that

when a branch shakes
the light shakes

Thrums by Thomas A. Clark is published by Carcanet, priced £12.99.