In sleep, I drift through unfamiliar landscapes, scanning rock formations for other signs of life, feeling like a space traveller, far from green fields and horizons lined with oak and birch. In the distance, a cow is screaming across the arroyo. Its powerful anguish metamorphoses into a dust devil, a column of sand towering above […]
Month: December 2019
Love in the Half-Light
His shadow lingers in the half-light among the lacklustre souls of previous lovers. His shimmering fingertips and lips penetrate the penumbra, candle flames of passion. One look from his eyes transforms the night into a brand-new constellation of glowing stars. Kim M. Russell, 9th December 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads: May the […]
Pharos
Waves scream at gulls, scribble chaos in their wake, sculpt rocks into skulls, pummel cliffs until they break. Boats struggle to resist, anchors taut against the tide, rollers and undertow persist, ragged sails and ropes untied. Cliff-bound in purple shroud, the lighthouse flashes behind clouds. Rays of hope and steadfastness guide sailors through the darkness. […]
winter woodland
now is the time to explore you in misty light so low you become one inky shadow birch, ash, beech and oak let go of leafy glamour long ago abandoning piles of copper and gold now your copses are barefaced and bold your glimmering gnarly branches hold mulchy aromas of moss and fungus I long […]
Metamorphosis
early morning snow landing on a fresh white page robins track haiku Kim M. Russell, 5th December 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: Changes Susan and Sumana bring us the aroma of change this midweek, with the sad news of their departure as hosts on 18th December. They have shared poems by Rilke, […]
Whoku
Irish soil stuck to his honest pen Seamus Heaney Kim M. Russell, 4th December 2019 I woke up this morning with this whoku in my head. Two things inspired it: Patricia’s Poetry Pea podcasts and the wonderful BBC2 programme about Seamus Heaney, which I watched on Saturday night and highly recommend. It’s called ‘Seamus […]
Of Clouds and Sea
No sky’s completely cloudless, there are clouds we cannot see, tiny breathless drops of hope above a hopeless sea. Although we know it’s boundless, and its waves forever restless, human beings can be feckless in the ocean’s cold embrace, and our bodies spiral, weightless, to the bottom of the sea. But our atoms, although formless, […]
A Haiku for Lucas
Tyrannosaurus crashing through the undergrowth each breath a roar Kim M. Russell, 3rd December 2019
Poetry Pea Podcast: Treats
Patricia at the Poetry Pea has been very busy and produced another podcast yesterday, number 23 of her second series, which not only has some exciting news and more of the renku, but also some ‘whoku’, of which one is mine! So please visit the Poetry Pea Treats Podcast and you might feel like taking […]
Early December
bare branches a painting against the blue sky leaves under my feet Yozakura crisp with early morning frost breathing foggy dragon-breath each crystal dewdrop reflects a frozen landscape cold microcosms decorate a spider’s web spun across the garden gate dandelion clocks delicate glassy seed-heads frozen in time while leaves crunch under my feet branches bear […]
writing in north norfolk 