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Dawn McLachlan

@deemclachlan.bsky.social

1.8K followers 1.1K following 370 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

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 6h

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Poetry Society @handle.invalid · 2h

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. 📚

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 10h

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

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

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 5h

Thank you so much! I’m honoured.

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Wild Hunt Books @wildhuntbooks.bsky.social · 5h

*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

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 5h

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 · 5h

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 · 6h

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

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 6h

Time for another #FridayPoem

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Sue Hardy-Dawson @suehardy-dawson.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Thomas L. Vaultonburg @wolftwinthomas.bsky.social · 22h

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Raymh @rayhourigan.bsky.social · 7h

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

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 6h

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 8h

#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.

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 7h

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.

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Ann Tigone @anntigone.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 9h

It begins: #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe. Share from today ‘til Thursday. Tag your work or it’s lost. Use Alt Text if there’s an image. #TakeRisks #EndOnAnImage #AvoidCliché. Read/repost/reply to 3+. No ghosting. For weekly prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Karen Pierce Gonzalez @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social · 8h

Another #poem that can speak for herself. #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #StayCreative #PoetsSupportPoets #PoetsOfBlueSky

My Clock

Bare feet on the hour hand
metal edge slicing my soles

I cannot stop time.

Fingers on razored minute hand
pushing hard to rewind the moments

I cannot stop.

Tick tock, tick tock.

His touching me like that
has already happened

too many times.
A warped cycle.

I cannot

even slow down the seconds
of innocence lost.

Tick tock, tick tock.

Karen Pierce Gonzalez

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Polly Atkin @pollyrowena.bsky.social · 19h

breaking: man who got over £10million book advance doesn't known the price of a book

Indie bookshops absolutely CANNOT discount a £30 to £20. We'd be making a loss. We sell books at RRP, unlike big chains.

www.thebookseller.com/comment/richard-osmans-sums-dont-add-up?

Osman's sums don't add up

Despite widespread belief, indies just can't afford to discount books.

www.thebookseller.com

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Do you know what really damages family life? Poverty, unstable employment, unsafe homes, and no hope for the future.
Pretty sure the Princess of Wales is not qualified to comment on any of this.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Kate warns too much screen time damages family life

The Princess of Wales says that smartphones and digital devices are causing an

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 4d

This week I want to #LiftToTheSky poet Brian Patten, who died September 29th; not so much for his poetry but this quote from him in a newspaper obituary, which goes to the heart of why we come together every week for #PoemsAbout #PromptCombo and others.

@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoetsInBluesky

Brain Patten, Poet, 1946-2025

Writing poetry was a kind of therapy
for him. “You think about things which
are in you and sensations that are going
through you and if you understand them
you can grow in that knowledge. That
is what poems are for”.

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

andrea bennett (they/them) @akkabah.bsky.social · 1d

I am so tired of people calling things divisive when what they mean is that they were more comfortable when other people were just being silently oppressed and they didn’t have to hear about it or change anything

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Going through the trail cam footage from our holiday in the forest and gathering a short collection I’ve called “rumbled”
Sound on.

Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Dawn McLachlan

The Lincoln Project @lincolnproject.us · 1d

We would like to thank Kristi Noem for bringing cameras with her everywhere and collecting evidence for her future trial at The Hague.

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Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 1d

Being stuck indoors recovering means I’m losing important autumn mileage on my usual “I see there’s a new pope at Number 47” joke.