humming

by Blair Center

The rapid rattle—the magpie’s cackle
tap-tap tap-taps against the traffic panes
on Loch Street. The beak chaps nails to shatter
the low chorus humming of fumy wheels
which roll in waves below its sparse tree mast.
Brutalism looms. While they call above
the living flow in which I daily swim,
we both enjoy the sweeping coastal air
and the bonnie city’s shining movements
and rainy promises of future spring.

I look upon the sea like endless fields
and I shall hum and sing as is needed
to nest, to build, to keep the crops growing.

Blair Center is a writer and student from the north-east of Scotland. Center has had poetry published by Dreich, Leopard Arts, and The Hyacinth Review. Whether in English, Scots, or his local tongue, Doric, Center finds that themes of nature, memory, identity, and place particularly and consistently motivate his work.