Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dawn McLachlan

@deemclachlan.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.1K following 380 posts

Poet and author for hire or loan. Won some prizes. Account is stuff from a small town in NE Scotland. Hoping to kickstart #HaikuAltText & #PoemAltText See #FridayPoem She/Her https://dawnmclachlan.com/dawnmclachlan-author/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-pdlbl

dawnmclachlan.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Time for another #poemsabout day and the theme this week is #ImperfectMe
Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk as always and everyone sharing and supporting #poets
#poetrycommunity #poemalttext #poetry #poems

Wear the Gloves by Dawn McLachlan

In those muddled days after When all was opened doors
And emptied drawers
I remember them
Butter-soft and finest leather
Stitching like the whisper of the needle
Wrapped still in silvered tissue
Faded tags of festive gifting
Unworn
Saved for a "best" too late to know So if you think me too showy
With misplaced colours and gaudy cloth
Fine jewellery worn for no good reason
It is because I have learned to Wear the damn gloves

11 12 36

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 23h

Such a shame he’s closing. Lovely wee shoppie.

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! You’re so kind.

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you so much. I honestly can’t tell you how much I appreciate your feedback.

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning! I wasn't going to do this prompt for #PoemsAbout #imperfectMe but started writing it yesterday @paulwritespoems.bsky.social writing group. It's still rough. Thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

Poem:

Still Standing

The scar on my right breast
a faint tracing,
the charcoal under the artist’s paint,

tattooed dots,
ellipsis signaling the story continues—

always a before
and an after--

so far, always an after--

the sagging of flesh, the greying of hair,
points for endurance, if not for style,

as vain as anyone, I suppose,
but embracing the imperfect,
me.

15 14 63

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

C. Oulens @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social · 2d

For this #PoemsAbout I’ve found the perfect #ImperfectMe (no lying🤥) and now that the 🐱 out of the 🎩 (was it a 🛍️?) I’m gonna 💨 for the day (JK…) Thanks to host @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
also for #haikuchallenge #anecdote for host @bleuowl.bsky.social
#tanka #Oulens #blueskypoetry

Confessions of an unabashembellisht
- C. Oulens

Oi, I’m a hatful
of lies that hurts umm… no one?
okay… almost.— there!

you browse your own bags while I
~embellish~>
anecdotes of…
nowhere—… .. . _ -

Afterword

* if I’ve to ‘embellish’ (instead of ‘spin’) ‘anecdotes’ (instead of ‘tales’) it’s reasonable that I be permitted 2 extra syllables in the #tanka for my extra-churned services…?🤔

9 12 53

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Teefs!

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 1d

I’m really looking forward to this!

World Fantasy 2025 @worldfantasy2025.bsky.social · 1d

It's just 28 days to WFC. PR3 has gone out and with it the news about our new MC. We are very sorry to lose Sarah Pinborough but delighted to welcome Joanne Harris.
Joanne Harris was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has written over 20 novels, published in over 50 countries.

2 6 50

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you! I know most of it is about luck not Pareidolia but I had this idea of “it’s just burnt bread” in my head so ran with that.

1 1

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you so much! Loving the ren faire garb for everyday life vibe. I’m definitely not saving things for “best” anymore. This is as best as it gets!

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Ann Tigone @anntigone.bsky.social · 1d

Lying in satisfied
silence as we
"smoke cigarettes"—
old Hollywood
movie code to keep
the censors happy,
hair as disheveled
as my sense of self,
responsibilities
trapped in
ruffled bedsheets,
wondering if I should
have said "no"
when he asked
if I needed anything.

#BedroomEyesPrompt
#Ishouldhave

2 6 32

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 1d

An excerpt from 'On a Haybale, Off Route 57' by Harrison Hamm, which is featured in the latest issue of The Poetry Review and available to read in full for free on our website. 📚

1 3

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 2d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

590 6K 19K

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you so much! I’m honoured.

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Wild Hunt Books @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social · 1d

*Submission reminder*

We're open to unagented subs from 6-12 Oct. For this submission period we are looking for novellas only (35K-50K). We're specifically looking for novellas that play w horror, mystery, weird & the unusual.

More info below🐐
www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk/blog/pop-up-...

Pop up submission window — wild hunt books

Wild Hunt Books are open to unagented submissions  from 6-12 October 2025. For this submission period we are looking for novellas only (35K-50K words with a grace of 1000 words, over/under)...

www.wildhuntbooks.co.uk

16 18

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

And it’s a true story. My late father-in-law and a drawer full of things “saved for best”
A lesson never forgotten

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

I wore some really big jewellery to Lidl last week for no good reason other than I felt like it. Ballgowns to do the bins. Wear the damn gloves!

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Louie Stowell @louiestowell.bsky.social · 1d

One of the things about this study is that a lot of baby and toddler books are written in house, by editors. So the study reveals the whiteness of editorial in kidlit even if not explicitly. But, big picture, this trend is unacceptable. I remember so many promises www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

‘Catastrophic decline’ in Black representation in children’s books

A report by charity Inclusive Books for Children found that of the 2,721 books surveyed, only 51 featured a Black main character, down by 21.5% since 2023

www.theguardian.com

6 230 460

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Time for another #FridayPoem

#poetrycommunity #poemsabout #poetlife #poetsofbluesky #PoemAltText #poemsaboutlife

Pareidolia
By Dawn McLachlan

We threw our wishes into holes in the ground
And fast flowing rivers
Coins dropped into wet darkness
Warmed by fervent hope
And tumbled over faces in the stones
In clouds we saw the lost
The longed for
And angelic outreach
In the sacred spaces
Candles lit with prayers
And blown out with fingers crossed
Sticky with sugar wrapped sentiment
And rules to tell no one
We wrote our lists to things of myth
For a different time
A different place
Where wishes were horses
And distant planets stared back at us
Our desire to see Jesus in the toast
When all we had was burnt bread

3 4 20

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Sue Hardy-Dawson @suehardy-dawson.bsky.social · 2d

Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay so here's a poem about that.

2 4

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Thomas L. Vaultonburg @wolftwinthomas.bsky.social · 2d

morning stillness-
a spider mends
the space between worlds
#haiku #poetry

6 32 180

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Raymh @rayhourigan.bsky.social · 1d

My contribution for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe, this is Flood..
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

Raymh @rayhourigan.bsky.social · Apr 28

Flood.. #poetry #poem #writing #writingcommunity

11 15 44

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

11 12 36

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 2d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a reel in the comments.

IMPERFECT ME

On days my son was measured
in length rather than height
I held him shirtless in one arm
while I lathered my face to shave.
Leaned on my chest, warm,
he plunged an explorer’s hands, decisive,
into my foamy cheeks, gaining agency,
the intimation of form, and play
affirmed in his corporeal birthright.

And me, significant, generative,
like the god of the psalmist,
I could do no wrong.

Whiskey it wasn’t that imperfected me
in his eyes. I may never know
which particular betrayal
inspired that loss of grace.
But it did boost his swagger to say
for the first time fuck you, Dad,
and I absorbed the preordained assertion,
concussive, cracked like a plastic bucket
abandoned on the back porch
when water expands into ice.

34 32 72

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 2d

Good morning #BlueskyPoetry Community. A grand start for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe today. @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk here’s my experimental draft. Weird form for the 1st but the rhyme is intentional. 2nd’s a Haiku as it seemed appropriate. Will catch up on the rest later. Thanks.

A poem by Debbie Ross

Super Model
I used to be bothered about my hips, my tits, my lips - all the bits that didn't conform to some societal norm of what a girl should be
it was my Dad who shaped me - never good enough at what was important to him.
Now
I embrace the 'flaws':
the love of books and poetry,
the lines of learning, this errant body -
imperfect, perfect ME.

A photo of a grey bowl with the text of a poem by Debbie Ross overlaid as follows

Kintsukuroi 金繕
We are travellers filling our imperfections with thin lines of gold

A definition of kintsukuroi underneath

kintsukuroi
(n.) (v. phr.) "to repair with gold"; the Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

12 15 34

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Ann Tigone @anntigone.bsky.social · 2d

The mirror me
is shattered glass,
a self in splinters.

Each jagged shard
spreading my flaws
across tiny multitudes.
They dance and mock
in unison

#ImperfectMe #poemsabout
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

14 19 60