Tessera

Andy Williamson

@andywilliamson.com

Writer, poet, creative thinker & architect for democracy / Sgrìobhadair, bàrd, neach-smaoineachaidh cruthachail agus ailtire airson deamocrasaidh | Aotearoa & Isle of Skye | https://urbanbadgercollective.com/links/

1556 Posts2644 Follower 2518 Folgt

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 6d ago

Good morning everyone, still not much writing time but always good to write something about trains, so here's a wee draft for #PoemsAbout #LastTrain. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk as always! #poem #poetrycommunity

Late train to Dundee

I run for a seat as
the day slides shut.
Ticket gates, the noise,
wheels feeling for grip.

A coal-black city evaporating,
tenement stone, brick, darkness,
the bridge where the city is lost.
And you.

Steel and diesel, dark fields blur.
My palm on the cold glass.
At Inverkeithing the line forks,
as the land begins to open.

Through salt-hardened towns:
Dalgety Bay, Aberdour, Burntisland.
Shuttered fronts,
sea-worn stone.

Then harbour lights, iron hush.
This river holds no shape
until the final curve,
and you.

Paul Connolly @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · last wk.

And just to say brilliant readings tonight from #poetrycommunity friends @johnadlam.bsky.social @leiabutler.bsky.social @bethbpoet.bsky.social @merrildsmith.bsky.social @palimpsest22.bsky.social @markantonyowen.com @zentinl.bsky.social @andywilliamson.com @jahshabby.bsky.social

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2w ago

Was surprised to see this included Scotland - the calendar interface is clunky with multiple calendars but otherwise very clever!

Tom Loosemore @tomski.com · 2w ago

Termsync.co.uk is most excellent, not least it's running on an open weight LLM hosted under the maker's desk.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2w ago

Had a bit of fun with #PoemsAbout #BadHabits, not my usual stye at all! With thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk / @thebrokenspine.co.uk! #poems #poetry #writingcommunity

The good glass

she reaches for the good glass
ice dropped in for the sound effect
keeps pouring
a nightcap, a tonic
a well-earned reward

second glass, she’s luminous
she’s who we agreed to remember
third and fourth now
the house holds its breath
and waits for morning

she’ll say the day got away from her
we let her, we always let her
only the bottle keeps its word
the one thing
in her world that doesn't lie

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN)@thebrokenspine.co.uk · 3w ago

#PoemsAbout #ExitWounds starts Friday. A slammed door. An empty chair. A scar. A city after the crowd has gone. We favour vivid imagery over explanation. Draft now. Use Alt Text.

Dark interior facing glass exit doors, with bare trees visible outside and a glowing EXIT sign above. Overlay text reads: “#PoemsAbout #ExitWounds”.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 3w ago

A bit early I know, but I'm travelling tomorrow and been rubbish at posting poems lately 😀 Here's a wee contribution for #PoemsAbout #ExitWounds I wrote in the tiny spaces of the week. Hope you like it and thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk! #poems #poetry #writingcommunity

Southwesterly gale eight

you watch water
spit
from the kettle

hissing
as it hits
the stove

a tap
dripping
into silence

salt spray on windows
darkness past colour
and you
sit
alone

the bed unmade
drinks gone cold
words
scalding
scarring

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 3w ago

Apologies for the radio silence on here - no #poems, no posts! Been busy with start of school holidays and visitors. The weather this week in #Skye is magical. It wasn't last week but that was good for a moody sea and sky pic on a deserted Skye beach (I'm not telling you where!)

Moody sky and a calm sea from a very stony beach on the Isle of Skye

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · last mo.

My #poem for #PromptCombo #Bestiary this week; Each-usige, a kelpie or waterhorse. Not a friend of any young girl by the side of the loch... Thanks @janpsolivagant.bsky.social ant.bsky.social for a challenging theme! #poetrycommunity #poetry

Each-uisge

you sit and watch me
from under the water
follow my movement
the way my hair
catches on sunlight
you cannot embrace

I see you
know you are there
feel the cold of the loch
a shape
waiting to ride out
across the land

I sit and watch you
you have tried this before
I did not fall
fail or falter
and will not now

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · last mo.

Not sure we have motels, but we do have some well dodgy Travelodges! Happy #PoemsAbout day everyone. Can't wait to read the different takes on #CheapMotels #poetry #poetrycommunity

Affordable Sanctuary

Trains scrape their metal teeth
against the night,
a few metres from my window.
I coax the air conditioner awake.
It coughs once,
then smothers every other sound.

Cold water needles my skin;
the hours for warmth
have long passed.

I don’t search the sheets.
Some truths are better left
unfound.

The kettle gets its ritual cleansing,
and the chair braces the door
like a tired sentinel.

On my floor,
soft‑eyed wanderers drift.
One lifts a can toward me,
a companionable offering
in the lift’s
flickering light.

I shake my head.

Their music thumps through the walls,
a rough lullaby braided
with train rumble
and the air con’s asthmatic wheeze.

Still,
this place cools the heat
pressing in from the city.
A pocket of noise
that isn’t the world’s noise.

I lie back,
the mattress sighing beneath me,
and slip into sleep
where dystopian skylines rise
from the hum of shabby machinery
and the thin breath
of borrowed sanctuary.

Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · last mo.

Good morning! I wasn't going to write to today's #PoemsAbout #CheapMotels, but then this memory came to me. Thank you to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk I'll be back in a bit to read.

Poem:

Outsiders

In rural Pennsylvania,
the night before a college friend’s wedding
rustic version of a cheap motel
splintery eyes in pine-knotted wood,

the mattress covered in thick plastic
crackle-rustled every time we moved—

at the fire-hall reception,
the beer flowed,
her new brother-in-law
danced in a pig trough,

we didn’t spend a second night there.

Gavin Freeguard @gavinfreeguard.com · last mo.

🚨 LAST DAY TO APPLY 🚨 More than 500 people have now applied for a ticket for the first ever @policycamp.bsky.social, taking place at UCL on Thursday 23 July Applications close TONIGHT at 11.59pm - the ballot takes place over the weekend Last chance to apply for a ticket: policycamp.org.uk

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN)@thebrokenspine.co.uk · last mo.

#PoemsAbout #CheapMotels is live. Post through Thursday. We favour image-driven poems, emotional honesty, working-class grit, sharp endings, and work that avoids cliché. #TakeRisks #EndOnAnImage. Read 3+, repost, reply. Use Alt Text.

Dimly lit motel room with two single beds separated by a small table and twin lamps casting warm light. Overlay text reads: “#PoemsAbout #CheapMotels”.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · last mo.

Good morning everyone, here's my offering for #PoemsAbout #CheapMotels. Thanks as ever to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt! Will duck back later to read everyone else's #poems! #poetry #writingcommunity

Broke

the weekend we drove
south, hard
across the border
dust on the dashboard
cheap gas, cold beers
the radio spitting
bad news and love songs

a low bar,
half‑lit, half‑legal
above the slow, grey sea
a cheap motel in Ensenada
thin walls, neon bleed
salt in the sheets
sirens inland
dogs barking at nothing

broken glass
broken souls
broke / drunk / certain
by the time
we hit the 805
iceplant flowering
in the cracked verge

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · last mo.

Here's a very quick something for #promptcombo #monument. Such a great first prompt, @jenthorne.bsky.social! Not had much time for writing (or socmed!) the last few weeks but reading about native tree seed collection (we have some of them planted here) and thought it was perfect for the prompt!

Monument

the bleak mountainside
straining to reach
holding out a hand
to find this fallen harvest
holding out for the hope
that what they find
will grow
the next generation

as the world collapses
from greed and selfish acquisitions
these tiny seeds
become a new start
journeying
to our hillside
for my son to know
when he grows old

Severin Carrell @severincarrell.bsky.social · last mo.

Some joy in a difficult world: ‘Literally growing the future’: volunteers help save Scottish rainforest by collecting 11m seeds Teams painstakingly combed endangered Atlantic habitat over several years, helping to grow 8m native trees 👇🌳🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌲 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Literally growing the future’: volunteers help save Scottish rainforest by collecting 11m seeds

Teams painstakingly combed endangered Atlantic habitat over several years, helping to grow 8m native trees

theguardian.com

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Friday already and another challenging #PoemsAbout #OutAfterMidnight. Thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk, hope you like my reminiscence of Manchester in the mid-80s! #poetry #writingcommunity

Bloom Street

no curfew, no plans
look around, look away
night in a rainy city
bus station shadows

sodium lights
voices crack
down steep stairs
dissolving into spaces

where we hide
in plain sight
from those people
who never understand

push open doors
they lead us
to our selves

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Genuinely struggled to do anything with this week's #poemsabout #WrongBody, but finally came up with this! Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk as always for the prompt! Will look forward to reading others later! #poems #poetry

Issue

my father’s hands
that thing he did
when words failed him

I catch myself
mid-gesture

the mirror shows
his shoulders
his jaw
how loss settles
in a face

I wear this body
like a coat
left at the door
by someone
my father never knew

Arts Professional @artsprofessional.co.uk · 2mo ago

Total Scottish culture spending fell by 33% between 2013 and 2025, from 1.12% of all local and national expenditure to 0.75%, according to campaign group Culture Counts’ new long view dataset on the country’s public investment in the arts.

Exclusive: Extent of cuts to Scottish arts spending laid bare by new tracker - Arts Professional

Total Scottish culture spending fell by 33% between 2013 and 2025, from 1.12% of all local and national expenditure to 0.75%, according to campaign group

artsprofessional.co.uk

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Another fantastic #promptcombo this week - #NothingMakesSenseNowadays. Thanks for this one Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social and the chance to channel some grumpiness! #poetrycommunity

Lineage

the grandchildren of men
who died fighting nazis
raise an arm
and hiss at difference

their hatred charged
by those who prey
on ignorance
and the grievances

of the children who voted
for Margaret Thatcher
who promised them
a better world

she lied
as this new lot do
when they pretend
they’re on your side

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Here's something for #FragmentsFriday that I've been playing around with for a while... @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social #poems #poetry #poietrycommunity

Fraying

Unravelled threads;
wind-snagged, pulling
at the weft, the selvedge
disrupting
our own existence.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Genuinely don't know if the wee man is called IrnBru, Whisky or Buckfast...

Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom @janpsolivagant.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Hi folks! This week's #PromptCombo is #MaidenVoyage Formative travel experiences - those that left an indelible mark, transformed your understanding of the world etc. Hashtags👆& tag @janpsolivagant.bsky.social to take part Ends Thursday noon! #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #PoetsOfBluesky

Zagreb Elegy

We bond over
Letters:
Shared passion for
Language, literature - the
Life of the Mind;
Shared cache of quotes from
Python, Blackadder, ‘Allo ‘Allo.

The Girl from Zagreb -
Polyglot, worldly beyond her
Eighteen years, working-class -
Eclipsing with ease the churchy,
Would-be Oxbridge crop of a
Suffolk sixth form.

Her neat, feminine hand,
My barely legible scrawl:
Aghast at Tiananmen Square,
Elated at the Fall of the
Berlin Wall.

Maiden Voyage, December 1989:
Sleeper via Milan to stay with her
In Hrvatska*, Yugoslavia.
Melee of Laibach, Gastarbeiter**,
Hyperinflation,
Hand-milled coffee and MTV.

Goli Otok, Adriatic Alcatraz,
Abandoned that very year.
Bratstvo, jedinstvo i suživot~ -
Dried husks crumbling into tinder.

My friend’s university ID:
Latin and Croatian arrayed in
Solemn columns -
Zagreb folding back into the
Bulwark of Christendom.

One morning, dark-clad,
Sombre, she absents herself.

High-school comrade,
Bosnian Muslim girl, has
Taken her own life. Later,
My friend, dejected, recalls the
Mother’s blank-eyed, flint-faced
Parting words:
Možda će joj Bog oprostiti -
Maybe
God will forgive her.

©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

*Croatia
** Foreign or migrant workers (German)
~ Brotherhood, Unity, and Coexistence

1980s advert for JAT Yugoslav Airlines in Croatian

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Another great #PromptCombo prompt this week - #MaidenVoyage from @janpsolivagant.bsky.social, thanks Jan! Here's something new to share for it! #poems #poetrycommunity

Landfall in heavy seas

sailing out of the storm
I make for landfall
in heavy seas
finding your shore lush

with green inland valleys
the fjords deepening
bottle-blue waters shimmer
beneath the keel

I lean into the wind
following the flight
of birds
drawing me closer

drawing us
together
as we become
our own safe harbour

Julie Anne Genter @julieannegenter.greens.org.nz · 2mo ago

Don’t let the super rich buy (and dismantle) our democracy. Lots of small donations can make a difference! If every person who voted for me to be MP for Rongotai in 2023 gave $5 now, that would cover most of our Wellington Bays campaign costs this year. www.greens.org.nz/wlb_donate_g...

Large donations received by political parties in NZ in 2026x Act has received by far the most, followed by National, NZFirst, and Opportunity.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Here's something for #fragmentsfriday that popped into my head the other day @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social #poetry

I want to live
in a house by the sea,
with a garden
where lemon trees grow.

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Another tricky prompt for #PoemsAbout #EarnTheRight, hoping this hits the mark! Thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk & @alanparrywriter.co.uk. #poetry #writingcommunity

The distance between arrival
and belonging

I have crossed the ocean
lost the map
called out your name
waiting
on the platform
for the moment
for us to be together

I gave up
black sand under my feet
the tūī’s cry
the smell of mānuka
on a summer day

together
forever
or alone

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 2mo ago

Thanks very much @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for this week's #PromptCombo #Pray - it feels like rich earth to be digging! Here's a very quickly written offering! #poetry #poems

Pray

for hope
for redemption
to save
your ravaged soul

your gods
are not mine
your gods
are corrupt

their mortal intermediaries
in it for themselves
lives of luxury
bigotry and control

small people
scared
of who we might
become

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 3mo ago

Still a but time-constrained this week, so here's something I wrote earlier that feels like a good fit for #PoemsAbout #BearingWitness. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk for the prompt and I'll try and read others later! #Poetry #Poems #WritingCommunity

Sunday morning

a knock at the door
my father downstairs
my brother and I
peer over the banister

in the hall below
a policeman
has taken off his helmet
is telling my father

that she is dead

Andy Williamson @andywilliamson.com · 3mo ago

Catching up after a week away and sharing a poem from my latest collection (link in bio) for #promptcombo theme #home this week. Thanks @rfsmith.bsky.social for the prompt and look forward to reading others! #poetry #prompt #writingcommunity

The kitchen

the old formica table
washing hanging on a winter’s day
shelling peas on the back steps
this room did not change
with the passing years

it was a place where we would meet
at dark of dawn and
dimming of the day
to listen and to talk
to feel quietly loved
Radio 4 and the Archers a constant
morning paper scattered

it is a room I have not seen
for many years
and is like you
a part of who I am