She lingers by the lane, in the interregnum of autumn, an exhalation of green, watching glossy crows gather over stubbled fields of faded ochre, sewn delicately with bales and rustling with dragonflies. The end-of-day sun casts a murder of shadows, letters from above, the winged initials of her one true love. Kim M. Russell, 12th […]
Month: September 2019
Bird Brain
Her brain is a riot of knapweed on which twittering finches feed, keeping her awake at night and drowning out each thought when she rises. She longs to see a chestnut or a walnut tree with broad crown and dangling fruit, or bushes of plump blackberries, but she cannot leave these walls, cannot stretch her […]
Blackbird – quadrille for dVerse
Originally posted on Sarah writes poems:
My boy has always been a thief – well, not a thief exactly, more like a blackbird – fingers always there nicking a slice of apple or a crumb of cheese bright eyes, cocked head, and then away knowing the first thing stolen was my heart Another quadrille for…
Leaf Thief
The wind is boasting. I try to turn a deaf ear but it whispers louder, forcing me to hear about the havoc it wreaked in the topmost branches of the beech trees, and the leaves it has nicked and blown from there to here. Kim M. Russell, 9th September 2019 My response to dVerse Poets […]
The last time I saw her
there was a clamour in my soul’s anatomy, a sixth sense enmeshed in a daughter’s flesh. I held her fragile hand, touched fingernails, like fractured shells embedded in sand. The lump of imminent loss stuck in my throat like a dry piece of toast can never be swallowed. I cannot forget how her sacrifice spread […]
Camino de Santiago
footsore and weary approaching the holy shrine with smiles and blessings Kim M. Russell, 8th September 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1741 Santiago de Compostela This month, our theme is ‘an act of devotion’” and all the prompts are pilgrimages around the world. Today we have a familiar pilgrimage: Santiago de Compostela.
Photo-Shopped Crickets
silent pauses punctuated by crickets autumn begins Kim M. Russell, 8th September 2019 My response to Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #101 Photoshopping Haiku: Cricket Silence This weekend we are writing ‘photo-shopped’ haiku, tweaking to make the difference between a good haiku (or tanka) and an excellent haiku (or tanka). Chèvrefeuille says that we can ‘photo-shop’ […]
Peeking in Windows
I’m absolutely delighted that I have another poem in Visual Verse. In September’s issue, the image is by Joelle Chmiel. You can either click here to see the image, read all of the poems and find mine on page 15, or you can go directly to ‘Peeking in Windows‘.
Münchner Jakobsweg
on well-trodden paths following saints and pilgrims steadfast footsteps Kim M. Russell, 6th September 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1740 Münchner Jakobsweg This month we are traveling around the world searching for pilgrimage-routes as an act of devotion and today we are walking on the Münchner Jakobsweg, on which there are several routes. The […]
Losing the Thread
When a seamstress loses the thread, she becomes thorny: stitches tighten in her gut and snakes breed in her very soul, notwithstanding itches in her fingers from tiny hollow hairs, steeped in a poison that bewitches and catches her unawares. All fingers and thumbs, and nettled by unforeseen hitches, she waits for serenity and calm. […]
writing in north norfolk 