Clare O'Brien

@clareobrien

Writer. Music fan. 2025 Poet in Residence, Inverewe Garden, Scottish Highlands. Poetry chapbooks 'Breathing Out Becomes White And Snowfall' & 'Who Am I Supposed To Be Driving?' & novelette 'Airloc' out now. Links: clarevobrien.weebly.com

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Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 1d

Donald's severed [rubber] head presiding over the junk at our local council rubbish dump... the guy who works there says it scares away the midges! 🤣 #ScottishHighlands #ScotlandAgainstTrump

Photo of rubber Donald Trump mask balanced on top of a traffic cone at a council rubbish dump in the Scottish Highlands

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 8d

Thanks to @jenthorne.bsky.social for this week's #PromptCombo. It's a prompt with different possibilities, but mine is about taking a #stand against the status quo. Like many women of my generation, I spent far too long letting others define me. This was in the now-defunct litmag Libre last year.

ME TWO
by Clare O'Brien

Because I thought I’d lose my mind
I chickened out and didn’t fight.
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

When those around me were unkind
I learned to smile instead of bite,
because I thought I’d lose my mind.

Too scared to let the dark unwind,
I cowered in the alien light.
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

I let our lives be intertwined,
I shut my mouth, kept things polite,
because I thought I’d lose my mind.

Fuck your idea of womankind.
I want my own kind of delight.
Because I know I’d lose my mind,
I’m leaving all that shit behind.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 10d

July reading - a new Bronte biography, a highly unusual fantasy novel, a wander (wonder?) through the haunted dreamscapes of #Hookland and a black comedy of manners set in the roaring twenties. 📚💙 #booksky

'This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Bronte' by Deborah Lutz

'Hookland Fragments: Volume One' by David Southwell

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 15d

Here's a #poem for #PromptCombo on #Perseverance - I guess it's about the pursuit of longevity in a relationship, in a particular place. Oh, and it's a Golden Shovel, after a line of Wendell Berry's. 😀 @emteepoetry.bsky.social #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #PoetsOfBluesky

FULL CIRCLE
a golden shovel
by Clare O'Brien

“The land is an ark, full of things waiting.” - Wendell Berry, ‘A Wet Time’

Our vows of love and trust were made again two decades past, the
day we brought our children here and set our lives upon this land.
We grew our food, our house, made columbines and bluebells bloom. It is
a world we know. This place has sheltered, held and fed us, been an
escape from nightmare, drought and doubt. It has been nursery and ark.
It has swallowed our sweat, welcomed our dead. Its undulations are full
of those who walked with us, our loss and love, the vanished voices of
dog and cat and bird and pig. This place is strong. Knowing these things,
and holding fast, we return to ourselves, and find each other waiting.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 18d

My contribution to this week's #PoemsAbout #BadHabits is about smartphone addiction (oh, the irony...) Thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetry #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

NETWORK
by Clare O’Brien

Ravenous, I surf the waves. The cuckoo
in my pocket twitters, greedy for a meal.
I vomit my attention in its mouth and feel
its haptic feedback fingertip me forward.
I can only tweet, birdsong into a sticky web.
No satisfaction for the hunger that snared me.
This net is strong enough to capture birds,
however loud they sing. Bound like a bug, I click

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 23d

On 24 July at 7pm I'll be performing with fellow storytellers Ginevra House & Rob Mckean as part of Wester Ross Story Club at Poolewe Village Hall. 3 spooky tales, inspired by the atmospheric landscape of Loch Ewe. Tickets £10 (£5 under 18) on the door or in advance from wrstoryclub.wordpress.com

L to R: Ginevra House, Clare O'Brien, Rob Mckean pictured at the old WW2 sea defences at Cove, on Loch Ewe, Scotland

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· 25d

My #ExitWounds #poem for #PoemsAbout was written after the sudden death of musician Chris Cornell, my employer and friend. Published in @mslexia.bsky.social back in 2019 when they invited poets to submit elegies. Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetry

LINE BREAK
by Clare O’Brien
In memory of Chris Cornell

At the start, it was the careful rope, unfurled
so you, a god three inches tall, could abseil
down my wooden stairs. From my sleep
I watched as you made your slow way down
into my world, your tiny ice axe in your hand.
When I dreamed, you were my life support.

And then you were my text. I translated you
into a thousand languages. I worked within
a Babel-tower, your face at every window.
Outside, your songs were shepherds. Your voice
drove the winds, made the seasons turn.
When you sang, the words cracked like a whip.

When you made me your friend, the tower
filled up with rattling shadows. Outside in the sun
we talked and touched like humans; you aged,
like the mortal you had become. You climbed,
higher, towards the stars, into the thinning air.
The line was still between us. I held on tight.

When the rope went slack, I thought
you’d only stopped to catch your breath.
I did not call for help. I waited on the ledge.
When your voice crackled and grew faint
I blamed the static in the atmosphere.
Midway through Spring, the line went dead.

Now all is still. While you were hanging broken
in your bathroom, I was sorting haunted pixels
from the show, constructing a reliquary
to post back down the wire. Your dead of night
bled into my new dawn. Our line is broken.
I never saw that you would be the one to fall.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jul 10

For #PoemsAbout, here's an odd little thing I wrote a while back. I had no idea what it meant then and I'm still not sure what to do with it. But it was called #PowerCut so this might be its chance to peer over the parapet! Thank you to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #Poetry

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jul 8

I think the BBC weather app is having a funny turn. It says it's 17C and raining in my northern Scottish village. Here's a photo from just now. Its 19.4C in the shade (40C in my polytunnel!!) and barely a cloud in the sky. Been like that all morning.Most welcome after several days of fog and rain.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jul 6

A poem about the sad beast inside for #PromptCombo #Bestiary Previously published in 'Selected Poetry: Autumn' from @thebrokenspine.co.uk thanks to this week's host @janpsolivagant.bsky.social

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jul 1

June reading comprised two novels about people going off their heads in isolated locations, a wonderful novelist's autobiography, two collections (one of poetry, one of flash fiction) and a first draft (MS not pictured...) of a friend's magic realist novel. #booksky 📚💙

'The Hill In The Dark Grove' by Liam Higginson

'Book Of Lives: A Memoir Of Sorts' by Margaret Atwood

'The Gleaning' by Fay Musselwhite
and
'Your Sons And Daughters Are Beyond' by Rosie Garland

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 29

See 'An Art Deco Sideboard' on Instagram... #writingcommunity #flash #flashfiction

An extract from 'An Art Deco Sideboard' by Clare O'Brien at TSS Publishing

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 20

Almost solstice. Twilight shivering towards midnight. #ScottishHighlands

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 18

Got some lovely shots across the loch tonight of a rainbow diffused through twilight mist. #scottishhighlands

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 5

Sometimes I wonder why we can't get just a normal-sized dog ... 🤣 Finn is 8 months old and weighs 50 kilos. Here he is, helping my son to turn the compost heap. #Newfoundlands

Large Newfoundland puppy on top of a heap of grass clippings, wearing many of them in his fur.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 1

May reading. Forgot to take a picture of all of them together...first pile shows a couple of contemporary novels, one domestic, one gothic; a history of quantum physics & an actor's autobiography,. Plus, a Harvard prof's take on #TaylorSwift & some classic travel writing. #booksky 📚💙

'Late In The Day' by Tessa Hadley
'Making It So' by Patrick Stewart
'The Lamb' by Lucy Rose
'What Is Real?' by Adam Becker

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· Jun 1

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 30/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 31

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 29/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 25

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 28/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 20

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 27/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 17

Taken the night of 16th May 2007, when I first met and interviewed Chris Cornell at the Astoria, London, 19 years and a day ago. Now both Chris and the theatre are no more. Tempus fugit.

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 14

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 26/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 11

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 25/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

'Death Comes To Pemberley' by P.D. James

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 10

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 24/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 9

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 23/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

'The Thirteenth Tale' by Diane Setterfield

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 8

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 22/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 7

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 21/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 7

Just in case you were thinking of voting Reform today...this is what you're voting for. #scottishelections

Trump and Farage laughing together in front of a golden lift

Bob and Evil Cooper from Twin Peaks laughing together

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 4

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 20/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚

Clare O'Brien@clareobrien· May 2

Choose 30 books that you’ve read that have been turned into movies &/or tv shows; covers only, no explanations. 19/30 #booksky #bookchallenge 💙 📚