with its carpets of bluebellsand cowslips; gorse pods popping,pinecones dropping; an overexuberance of May blossomblooming with burgeoning butterflies: brimstones, holly blues,and pearl-bordered fritillaries. How soon it is over,giving way to heat and brighter flowers,an exhausting psychedelia. Kim M. Russell, 21st May 2026 It’s Thursday and Open Link Night at the dVerse Poets Pub, where Grace […]
Bride with a Fan
The blueness is not sadness or regret,nor the colour of a teardrop. It is not a reflection, not the depth of her eye,nothing like the blue of the sky. The fan does not keep her cool,but hides the imperfect smile, the chipped tooth behind her lipsthat snags on words she does not say. Even the […]
Dogberry
Thorny climber dog rosemeanders among hedgerows: in springtime flaunting blushing flowers,where insects devour sweetest nectars; in autumn, a birds’ banquet of scarlet hipsand a source of healthy syrups. The Bard stole the name for his constablein Much Ado, comically irresponsible. Kim M. Russell, 18th May 2026 It’s Monday and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, time […]
A Room that Breathed in Stitches
Morning light streamedthrough roughly-woven curtain, glided across wallsand gilded the bed, picking out ochre stitchesin the knitted blanket and the lime green patternof the cotton pillowcases. A room of fabricsbreathing in stitches, stirred by the chilly breathof a breeze, a subtle alarm – a reminder to take advantageof the quietude, embrace the shadowslingering in corners […]
Her First Spell
Isadora’s mother grasps her hands and smiles at her. ‘I know this is your first time, but everyone in the coven has been there, and we are here to support you’. Isadora looks around the circle, nods, picks up a handful of herbs and throws them into the cauldron. As she stirs, she recites under […]
Beyond Blue
She spotted her on the ebb tide,in the narrow water of Dublin Bay, in the early morning crepusculeof an ordinary day, with tangles of sea foam in her hair – a mermaid or a water fay. She’d always wanted a soul sisterwith whom to dance and play; she wouldn’t feel so lonely,if she could convince […]
Waxing Gibbous
Not yet full,she continues to growand glow, her petals unfold,silver and slow, unscentedin the night’s dome. Anchored to Earthshe cannot roam but she will wax gibbousamong constellations, a single bloomuntil she wanes and fades a flower moon. Kim M. Russell,4th May 2026 It’s the first Monday in May and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, we […]
Sweet Buzz
It’s back again, thesoporific burr of beeshovering in the fruit trees thatmakes me want to sleep. I watch them burrowing insidespring blossoms. They ignore meas they take their fillof pollen. Lately, mytaste for honey has taken over my mindand I’m dripping withtheir sweet buzz. Kim M. Russell, 30th April 2026 This Thursday at the dVerse […]
Sitting Tenant
I wish they’d told me about the sitting tenantwhen I bought this fixer-upper. A permanent presence, a silent moth of a housemate,an old creeper, a late- night slipper shuffler, who leaves the toilet seatup, the tap running and messages writ on the steamed-up mirrorwith an icicle finger and lingers on the stairslike cat hairs. I […]
Cry of a She-Wolf
A flash of amber eyes in the forest twilight—I answer with a growl. In the crepuscular dawn of teenage-hood,I am tainted with the tang of menses moon, a howl of hair sproutingin unexplored places. Nobody told me about the sweetnessof explosions in the darkness, lit only by moonlight on wolfish teeth.Will I be a good mother? […]
writing in north norfolk 