David Birch
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davidbirch.bsky.social
David Birch
@davidbirch.bsky.social
1.1K followers 790 following 1.3K posts
Worked in education and mostly taken up with poetry these days: you can find some of my poems at https://wildfire-words.com/?s=David+Birch and most recently in the latest @thebrokenspine.co.uk collection 'Beautiful Little Fools'.
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Reposted by David Birch
thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
This starter pack for the #poetrycommunity of #PoetsonBlueSky associated with #Prompts includes @victoriaspires.bsky.social @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social @rfsmith.bsky.social @dragonslayerma.bsky.social @hool415.bsky.social @derickijohnson.bsky.social & many more. Please follow & repost if you can
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by David Birch
thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
A starter pack of #Poets seeking a publisher for their collections. @bethbpoet.bsky.social @pdevonald.bsky.social @benedictan.bsky.social @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social and many more. Please follow and repost if you can #poetsonbluesky #poetrycommunity
November 25, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by David Birch
marionashton.bsky.social
Here's an offering for #PromptCombo #OnRoofs for Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Look forward to reading the other poems.
November 24, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by David Birch
andywilliamson.com
Deadlines, deadlines... urgh! Not much time this morning but can't resist this little poem (based on last week's snow!) for #promptcombo #OnRoofs! Thanks @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social for the lovely prompt!
Snowstorm outside all is white and light and glistening thunder overhead as the snow breaks free taking the gutters with it
November 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by David Birch
drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
I suppose it might have helped had I used the right hashtag #onroofs instead of the one I chose! 🙄
drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 2d
Hello #promptcombo crew Thanks Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social for this week’s #onrooftops theme. I’m just about to go out, but thought I’d post my wee offering first. Photo by me, Jerusalem rooftops looking towards the Dome of the Rock.

#poetry #poem
A poem by Debbie Ross entitled, Domes Stars and Steeples text as follows From up here the churches, mosques and synagogues glint in sunlight, perfectly co-existing. Rooftop views can be deceptive. On the ground invisible barriers fracture communities. Nationalism, religion and fear keep people apart. Down in the narrow tangle of alleys and streets we found communities that mixed. A glimmer of hope in a desert of grief. A view across mostly flat rooftops - with TV aerials and shade shelters - towards the Dome of the Rock
November 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
Reposted by David Birch
jude-brucemoll.bsky.social
Hi Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
#onroofs
Just about to start hosting my #wildlifegardening group on pests! Including these lovelies (one I've previously shared)
Will get back to it later. Have a good week.
November 24, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by David Birch
helenlaycock.bsky.social
Thanks, Paul, for the #promptcombo #OnRoofs
@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Here's my contribution.

#poetry #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets #skypoets #winter
November 24, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by David Birch
robgalpin.bsky.social
Just a short one for #PromptCombo #OnRoofs - loads on this week. Hope to catch up with others later. Thanks Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
#poem #poetry
Church Roofs “Your church roof keeps out water and prevents the deterioration of your building and its content.” – Church of England official website Not, note, to protect the heads and health of the prayerful. Lead, copper, split slate and nails— all earthly protections arrayed against the literal, heavenly water.
November 24, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by David Birch
sueimnw.bsky.social
For #PromptCombo #OnRoofs with thanks to wonderful host, Paul, @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by David Birch
fhpowellwriter.bsky.social
#promptcombo #OnRoofs @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by David Birch
hool415.bsky.social
Hullo @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social and to #promptcombo #onroofs
Love the theme, as great as Fidel’s from last week!
Ben Nevis First seen from a petrol forecourt as perching on top the next block’s trading estate: it’s not a good look, this mountain’s all slouch, no poised, sky-scratching nib of summit, but a fist of dull clenched crayons, though I can just pick out its small menagerie of pepper-corn birds. There should be more aloof arrogance here for I stand at the foot of the roof of the land, yet this peak is drawn and redrawn behind net-curtain clouds: an unexpected shyness tentatively peeping back and forth.
November 24, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Reposted by David Birch
janpsolivagant.bsky.social
🙏 @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social #PromptCombo
Out of season & they nest under #eaves, rather than #OnRoofs, but fits, I guess. 😁

#poem: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

#swifts #swallows #NaturePoem #BirdPoem #poetrycommunity #bskypoetry
Swifts, Swallows Swifts, swallows: ghostly Doubles meeting at Whitsun - Sky god’s full-throated Season echoing the Abyss. Forebear tongues and Sagas revelled in Whirlpools and swallies, Devoured by the sweeping, Churning presences Glimpsed in sky and sea. Swifts, swallows: ghostly doubles, Aerial nomads, Custodians of Ancient songlines etched with a Thumbtack of neurons. ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025
November 24, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by David Birch
jenthorne.bsky.social
I thought I'd try a #Dansa as suggested by @daveashleypoet.bsky.social for this week's
#promptcombo from
@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

#OnRoofs

This is an (almost) factual account of some of the conversations I overheard between the two builders who were re-roofing of my house!
You're more likely to fall off a horse than a roof Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. Clarkson said it on his tv show. He's a national treasure, dontcha know. They should make that bloke a bloody knight. Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. They are going to cut down all the trees And plant flowers instead to get more bees. I saw it on the news last night. Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. Did you see Andy scrapping in the pub with Jack? I had to keep quiet cuz of my bad back. If it wasn't for that, I'd've got in on that fight. Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. You ought to go have a look on Yahoo Loads of good stuff on there, and they've got the news too. I reckon it's a top-notch website. Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. I think being a roofer keeps you sane. The altitude lets more stuff get in your brain. I think much better when I'm working at height. Yeah mate, I suppose you're right. You'm a good listener, I like chatting to you. Our Brenda stopped listening in 2002. She says all I do is talk utter shite. Yeah mate, I suppose she's right.
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by David Birch
daveashleypoet.bsky.social
#promptcombo #OnRoofs #poem #madrigal #winter
@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 10:32 PM
davidbirch.bsky.social
Many thanks, Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
for your brilliant prompt #OnRoofs, which brought to mind a recent encounter with a former student. Looking forward to reading other responses from #BlueSkyPoets during the course of the week #PromptCombo
November 25, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by David Birch
bennewmark.bsky.social
#FridayFive is the feeling a sort of maudlin pre Christmas mood.
1. Goodbye England. Laura Marling.
2. A Long December. Counting Crows
3. Winter Valley Song. Fountain of Wayne.
4. Flume. Bon Iver.
5. Pocahontas. Neil Young.
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by David Birch
emteepoetry.bsky.social
Luckily for me I had written a wee poem about the North Star a short time ago. I just had to find it again! Written to a picture prompt, I hope it works without it too.

Sharing for #PromptCombo #NorthStar

@dragonslayerma.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by David Birch
daveashleypoet.bsky.social
@dragonslayerma.bsky.social

‬
#PromptCombo #NorthStar #madrigal #poem
November 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by David Birch
gphydeauthor.bsky.social
Here's my offering for #promptcombo and the theme of #NorthStar
Thanks to Fidel @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for hosting
#vsspoem #poet #poetrycommunity #astronomy
November 19, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by David Birch
jenthorne.bsky.social
Thank you for a great prompt @dragonslayerma.bsky.social

Here is my offering.

#promptcombo #NorthStar
#poetry
#poetrycommunity
#blueskypoets
Polaris I am not one star not a single flicker trembling in the night. I am three woven in orbit a trinity of light that refuses to dim. The daughter: Polaris Ab a quick and restless rhythm in the sky carrying the gravity of distant wishes. The wife: Polaris B a circling sentinel tethered by devotion balancing orbits in constant presence. The mother: Polaris Aa vast heart, burning galaxies in her chest warmth unyielding her voice a trusted compass. Together we shine not as fragments but as one beacon shining through darkness. The daughter’s spark the wife’s glow the mother’s flame I am the constellation of woman the North Star. When you lift your eyes searching for direction find me triple whole radiant.
November 19, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by David Birch
daveashleypoet.bsky.social
@dragonslayerma.bsky.social

‬
#PromptCombo #NorthStar #madrigal #poem #love
November 20, 2025 at 1:22 PM
davidbirch.bsky.social
Many thanks @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for this week's #PromptCombo #NorthStar. Here's a quick #Haiku in response but I may think longer and harder... #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets
November 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by David Birch
rosannamcglone.bsky.social
How lovely to see, Paul! Many congratulations, and how fabulous getting a portrait into the bargain 😀
As previously mentioned, I think I know even more than Sixty Odd Poets 🤣
thepaulconnolly.bsky.social Paul Connolly @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 10d
I’m delighted to have six #poems featured on the brilliant @zoomburst.substack.com’s Sixty Odd Poets site. And I’m deeply flattered by his wonderful line drawing. The link to the feature is in the post below👇(Do check out the other poets in Mike’s excellent series)
#poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky
zoomburst.substack.com Mike O’Brien @zoomburst.substack.com · 10d
This morning #SixtyOdd Poets is proud to present a selection of the #poetry of Paul Connolly. Pour yourself a brew and take some time to read, mark and inwardly digest these six fine poems.
November 17, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Reposted by David Birch
dragonslayerma.bsky.social
Enormously pleased to host
#PromptCombo this week. Theme is #NorthStar

Here's my poem 'Navigating a Wilderness' to kick us off.

Tag me & use the hastags to get involved, open till Friday!

@victoriaspires.bsky.social @hool415.bsky.social @rfsmith.bsky.social @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by David Birch
fiftywords.bsky.social
As my beloved Constantinople is often called the city of the worlds desire, here’s another for #PoemsAbout #Desire @thebrokenspine.co.uk
City of the World's Desire A glint not water, not quite promise, just flickers at the hinge of continents. Streets refuse their names. A dome lifts like an unanswered question. Wind tastes of salt and a rumour of gold. You think you've arrived, but every corner slips sideways, a palimpsest of footsteps you cannot follow. Desire here is architecture: arches leaning into absence, a wall held up by all it remembers. Voices braid themselves through alleys of unspent longing. Nothing begins; everything echoes. And the strait, that restless throat, keeps whispering departures, as if the city were the dream before you dream it. You walk until the light turns colourless, until even the horizon falters, and still, in the half-thought between breaths, the city tilts its face toward you, unclaimed, unclaimable, wanting to be wanted.
November 15, 2025 at 10:11 AM