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David Birch

@davidbirch.bsky.social

1K followers 710 following 1.1K 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'.

wildfire-words.com

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 1d

My pleasure!

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 1d

My pleasure ..

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 1d

My goodness, this is shocking (and far from indulgent). Brilliant build-up and ending

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Reposted by David Birch

Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · 2d

Evening @hool415.bsky.social and #PromptCombo #visitor friends. Here is a shockingly indulgent piece about an unwanted visitor. Sorry it’s a long one!

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 1d

Love the way the form and language reflect the erratic movements of the bird 👏

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Reposted by David Birch

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d

"Visitor" (& "Corvid")

from "Contact Light" (Alien Buddha Press) available from Amazon

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #contactlight #alienbuddhapress #promptcombo #visitor
@alienbuddhapress.bsky.social

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Gentle, witty and utterly relatable!

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Reposted by David Birch

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

For this week’s #PromptCombo from poety maestro @hool415.bsky.social here’s my daft wee offering for #visitors

A poem by Debbie Ross

Taken By Surprise
Swipe the dust, grab the laundry pile, shut the door
to the kitchen pile up, smooth down the sofa thrown,
check the mirror in the hall
for signs of discomposure - You've got visitors at the door.

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much, Jude!

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you, Carolyn - much appreciated!

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you so much, Sue - that really is much appreciated!

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Many thanks, Stefano!

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

My pleasure - this was such an engaging read, Sue

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

This is beautiful - it has a Thomas Hardy feel about it

Reposted by David Birch

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 2d

Dear @hool415.bsky.social and #PromptCombo #Visitor,
#poetry #mysticverse,

This poem is for a friend in Durham, who reminded me why I write —
that meaning lives in the smallest words, and we should never give up seeking our voice.
For all of us who keep supporting one another.

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks - I've known this place since childhood. Its so atmospheric

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Much appreciated, Jan!

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks so much for this, Julian. Very kind!

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d

No apology needed! Sometimes repeats just fit the brief

Reposted by David Birch

Joseph Nutman @joseph-nutman.bsky.social · 3d

One for the #promptcombo offered by @hool415.bsky.social - this week on the theme of #visitor - #blueskypoets ##poetsofbluesky

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Reposted by David Birch

Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 3d

Morning @hool415.bsky.social Ju. Here's my first response to your marvellous #promptcombo #visitor. It's from my ImpSpired collection "As Folktaleteller." Have a great week:

A Lincoln Imp

Tell you why I'm motionless here, grinning
down at you. Satan let us out to play.
Mate and I sat on a church spire twisting
it. Chesterfield never had better days.

Next we blew through that door. Tripped up Bishop.
So serious. In the Angel Choir broke
chairs and tables till angel out a hymn book
told us to stop, so I lobbed stones at bloke

while mate scarpers to Grimsby, where angel
catches him, smacks his arse, turns him to stone
as he did to me. At least mate can waggle
his smacked arse at visitors I'm alone.

Need a bit of fun in this God given
place packed full of all praying and hymning.

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Reposted by David Birch

Francis H Powell writer and poet @fhpowellwriter.bsky.social · 3d

#promptcombo #visitor
@hool415.bsky.social

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David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 3d

My goodness, this hits hard. A compelling reflection on that diconnected period between death and remembrance

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Reposted by David Birch

Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom @janpsolivagant.bsky.social · 3d

🙏 to @hool415.bsky.social as #PromptCombo #visitor host

#adaptation / #photography: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025/2007

#poem #RussianPoetry #Symbolism #spooktober #Death #PoetryInTranslation #PereLachaise #Shroud

Before the Wake

After У гроба (“Beside the Bier”, 1904) by
Russian Symbolist poet, Innokenty Annensky (1855-1909)

Mirrors gleam whitely in an
Apartment swept and clean.
Stately as a steed under a
Fly sheet stands the grand piano.

During visiting hours yesterday,
Death left the doors wide open.

Time has long ceased to be
Torn off the calendar - but
Parlour, kitchen, bedroom
Clocks tick on regardless.

Hushed in the corner:
Fool’s pig-bladder of an oxygen bag,
Blue-lipped cannula -
Eyeless, agog at the final agony.

In a funk-trance of disgust,
I peel back the shroud -
As if I were
Certifying the death.

Horror - then
Bewilderment:

Is Being’s mystery
Already at home in the
Vacated sanctuary of a
Face so alien?

Free adaptation from the Russian:
©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2007

Highly contrasted black-and-white image of sculpted marble on a tomb at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

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Reposted by David Birch

Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 3d

It's the irrepressible @hool415.bsky.social hosting #promptcombo this week, and the theme is #visitor. As ever, you have all week to respond ☺️

Julian (Hool) @hool415.bsky.social · 3d

Hullo @rfsmith.bsky.social @dragonslayerma.bsky.social @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social @victoriaspires.bsky.social I’m hosting #promptcombo with #visitor All welcome, use the #promptcombo to post and me @hool415.bsky.social (Please note: I’m not around all Tuesday but will catch up the next day!) Ju

Walk

That afternoon
the clouds were sullied
holding their breath of rain,
and the wind
one-handed, shyly
circled the trees again.

It was an hour
when the streets were clear
just an old man, his slowed dog,
and the nearby knock
of a Macmillan Nurse.

It felt like a hole in the day:
where time had fled
and the emptiness left
carried no anticipation.

I thought much of that nurse
and the house overrun
with the dry rot
of cancer,

how perhaps
round a downstairs bed
she helped like a priest,
dissolve the glass,
so the clouds and the wind
could be welcomed.

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