In the suburbs, the sky is muted greys;layered clouds merge with beigepost-harvest fields – a train passes by.Houses are prominent, earthy, weak lightreflecting in windows, the inhabitants’washing strung out on lines like brightbunting criss-crossing the landscape.This is life outside the city, awayfrom Viennese high society, an escapefrom pressures and scandal. The dayis almost over, laundry dances […]
Protest
In the blistering heat of this summer, treeshaven’t given up completely:leaves have curled, turned brown, shrivelled –but they haven’t fallen. They’re protesting with berriesand an abundance of acorns. Squirrelshave been running riot, early scavengerspreparing for the onslaught of winter. Kim M. Russell, 24th August 2026 This Monday we are writing Quadrilles with Punam at the […]
A Poet’s Books
I take them with me on a walkto write, record an inner talk:my notebooks. Lined pages are for handwriting,snowy plain pages for drawingin sketchbooks. At night before I go to sleep,I read; beside the bed I keepstorybooks. I switch between them now and then,remembering each one againwith bookmarks. Together on a bookcase shelved, notebooks and […]
August
Once in a lifetime,maybe twice, but no more,you realise that you are turningfrom growing to giving back:ripening. The fruit, grain and light know.Your body knows from the settlingin your chest — a quiet pause,in which you’re not quite readyto let go. Everything ripens:wheat, corn, apple, tomato,sunflower. Even a poem. Kim M. Russell, 18th August 2026 […]
Never the Bride
Breda stands in a sumptuous hotel room, an ivory-coloured wedding dress pressed against her body like a lover. It is so full of frill and flounce that it feels alive, and the iridescent image swims through a mirror that flows and reflects her pale face with its newly-plucked brows and made-up eyes. There are flowers […]
Sky at Night
We did not walk hand in handbeneath the night sky, nor look upat the menagerie of stars or findour own astrological map, or crabs and fish swimmingamong planets. Neither did we seelions stalking goats, hunters wrestlingbulls and rams, horses running free. What we saw was black velvetcushioning stars like diamonds,winking eyes of those we have […]
The Moorings at the End of the Garden
I rise with the sun this morning.Our cat is waiting at the back door. I pull on my wellington boots,unlock the door and let her out. I follow her across dew-soaked grass,grown long, studded with forget-me-nots, down to the back gate. She slipsthough its slats while I stand and admire boats bobbing ungainly on wind-kissed […]
Something in the Air
I can feel it. Thereis something in the air,a change in temperature,in the breezeand the trees,that tells me summerwill soon be donningits mourning cloak,while I celebrate,a fiery skipper,the autumn leafwith its lustrous copper.I’ll write a sonnet on a rusty-tipped pagebefore making my autumn pilgrimage. Kim M. Russell, 4th August 2026 Merril is our host for […]
Journey
Next Monday I will be celebrating another milestone in my life journey, my seventieth birthday, with my sister. This entails a journey to the Isle of Wight, via Hastings, where we are meeting up with two friends I have known since I was eleven years old, one of whom turned seventy in March and the […]
Peach
Summer is nearly over when it comes tofruit, especially peaches. We thinkthey are so ephemeral that wemust keep them in the fridge so we candelight in their fuzzy beauty until we eattheir shimmering flesh, swallow apink and golden sunset.We declare ourselves convicted,guilty of a crime as old asLilith — sharing forbidden fruit. Weknow what we […]
writing in north norfolk 