“Pleased to finally meet you, Kay,” her next door neighbour said. “I’m Sally. I’ve seen you coming and going, and I’ve made friends with your lovely cat.” “Which one?” asked Kay before she realised her mistake. “Do you have more? I’ve only ever seen the one and he’s very friendly. I hope you don’t mind […]
Newborn
Originally posted on writing in north norfolk:
The waiting was breath held underwater, the longing was a crushing ocean wave, and the scalpel cut was the sharpness of moonlight at the end of a stormy day. Now his smile carves deep into my ribcage, his fingers worm paths under my skin, and the smell of…
Unmasked
Pandemic masks express littleof the wearer’s personality: floral,funny, plain or heavy metal. We focus on each other’s pupilsor look away, unsure if sparklesare reflections of windowed souls. Words and meanings muffled,cloaked, and sometimes daggered waffleto fill the spaces in between, mumbled emotions captured in dissembledetiquette. And how we long for smiles,rows of teeth, and lips […]
Fringe
I used to hide behind fringes: the tablecloth fringe that dangledfrom grandmother’s dining table,the one I pulled until scaldingtea splashed on my legs; the grass and weeds on the fringeof the field near the railway bridge,the green-shadowed placewhere I buried my pet hamster; the fringe of hair over my eyes,my mother’s scissor-straight line,the blonde fringe […]
Terrapins and Sweet Corn
I met Caroline in our first year at an all-girls grammar school, and we spent as much time as we could together. She lived a bus ride away in a bungalow, the first one I’d ever come across, which her parents had expanded upwards into the roof, where Caroline had her bedroom. It was a […]
Quiet Tights and Masks
After a summer of bare legs in sunshine,I looked forward to a winter woollen-warm with tights, 120 denier thick,soft to touch and clinging to my skin. I ordered an array of face masks, stylish,colourful statements of my Covid fashion,but tights and masks remained unworn.I was required to stay indoors, invisible to all and sundry,in pyjamas […]
Next Door’s Ghosts Episode 7
Kay explained the situation and within minutes the man, who was becoming more and more attractive, with his calm manner and soothing voice, had opened his boot, produced a set of jump leads, and proceeded to rescue her like the proverbial knight. “You’re a life saver,” said Kay, when her engine purred and Ian had […]
No Swan Song
In my hollow bones, I feel this year will not be the final swan song. Though the waves come higher, and broken reeds are flung across uneven paths, our eyes are dazzled by birded fields and sun-flecked tides that yield the departure of winter. A verdant fern unfurls unseen beside a bubbling stream and something […]
Garrulous and Green
this morning serenadedbirdsong just a gush of liquid notesspilling a stream of consciousnessfilling cracked and solitary heartswhistling an untimely declarationof spring Kim M. Russell, 24th February 2021 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #58: Two Into One Will Go Thank you for featuring Candy’s newly-invented form, Rosemary, which I think you know […]
The Oblivion of Snow
‘For the listener, who listens in the snow, And, nothing himself, beholds nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.’ Wallace Stevens It started with a silent flake, a branched crystal, not unlike a flower or a tree, or the paper doily cut-outs grandma used to make. It started with a snowflake, but […]
