The silence of the woods is contagioussap seeping under our skin. Outrageousstrings in minor key rise in a sorrowfulbreaking prayer in an arboreal cathedral. No birds sing in bare branches, gunmetal laceagainst an ashen sky; no clouds to embracethe unabashed nakedness in this hallowedplace that nature reigns, we’ve only borrowed. A doe and her faun […]
Becoming Winter Sky
Autumn was already underway. Every morning was misty; sometimes fog smothered the landscape, russet and brown leaves underfoot the only splashes of colour until almost midday. With hardly any sun, everything was rinsed out and drooped like yesterday’s laundry on the washing line. Night fell far too early; end of school blended into bedtime, with […]
Between the Falling in Love Parts
Between falling love and other parts of life,things happen: spring blossoms come and go; waves crash on beaches; parts of mountains c r u m b l e ; skies change colour. We grow up,take on responsibility, land with both feeton the ground. Kim M. Russell, 10th September 2026 It’s Thursday and time for Open […]
Remembering Miss Spencer
My favourite lesson was English,but as far as teachers were concerned,telling tales of yore with relish,only Miss Spencer could bring history to life. She had taught my mother, was rotund with a kindly face, older,always dressed in black,with amber beads around her neck. Daughter of an Egyptologist,she’d visited the pyramidsand witnessed the opening of tombs;she […]
Fragile Oddity
They hurtledthrough the icy silenceof spacefrom fragile constellations:sharp, hard, alien.To themtheir shatteringmust be like yesterday;to us it is the culminationof millennia,a joining of star-dots,when a rockcracksand we discover a xenolithwithin. Kim M. Russell, 7th September 2026 This Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub we area writing quadrilles with Melissa, who says that X marks the […]
Falling Apart
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 […]
writing in north norfolk 