The year has started to fallapart. Pointillistic burstingof nuts and fruit. Later, leavescrunching underfoot. Conker shells split,release shiny mahogany kernels. Oaks shed acornsthat hit hard ground with a crack. It’s still warm enough for white butterflies.Craneflies crowd windows or hang in cornersfrom spindly alien legs. Cooler mornings reveal cobwebs,dewdropped now –frosted soon. Kim M. Russell, […]
Drachenfels (Dragon Rock)
It must be fifty years sinceI visited your craggy heightsbeside the majestic Rhine.It was another life and timeon your now distant ridged rock,where I thought I’d finda mythical winged creature.All I found was a twilight cavewith reptiles and spiders padlockedin glass prisons, so easy to release,but too reckless and dangerous. Kim M. Russell, 1st September […]
Keeping it Simple
Some couples don’t like to be the centre of attention but still want to celebrate their love. No flouncy dress, suits or bouquets for them, just casual attire in a local registry office, with only a couple of witnesses, and maybe a drink with friends and family in a nearby pub afterwards. They can’t afford […]
Nothing is Permanent
You always said to tryto do my best, togrow into the person I wanted to be. You come to me as words, arevenant, urging me to be good,and remain in my heart as a guest. In owl-light, I have learnt to treadcarefully, my feet landing lightlyon the right side of memory. Remember – nothing is […]
Houses with Laundry
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 […]
writing in north norfolk 