Covid Celebration

hesitation before the grip of winter’s chillalmost all the leaves are goneexposing branches to a cloudless skyand pale light of a more distant sun isolation I watch it from the windowcold glass between me and the worlda video call heralds the promiseof a smiling face celebration a Sunday birthday this yearfour decades of being my […]

Feline

Orbs of honeyed trustglow in the darknessat the end of the bed,incandescent torchessearching in the nightfor human heat.In the morning,after breakfast and a treat,blue-eyed companionrelinquished for the day,the owner of the amber eyesgoes out to hunt and play.   Kim M. Russell, 17th November 2020 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics: Look into […]

Zig Zagging

Winter sun slants low, cold, white gold, casting faint shadows across the frosty fields, prettifying furrows and hedges and rusted plants around the edges. Is it possible to backlight a hare’s ears, making them glow pink as it zig-zags its way home this morning? Kim M. Russell, 16th November 2020 My response to dVerse Poets Pub […]

Honest Rot Rondel

After autumn has burnishedfallen leaves and bracken,tufts of fern and verdigristransform the palette. Along mudbanks coatedwith emerald algae,mare’s tails’ spiky greentips release glowing nebulae in stagnant ponds,and licheny flora clingto earth, tree, wall and rock,tiny forests of green lungsall exhaling honest rot. Kim M. Russell, 16th November 2020 My response to earthweal weekly challenge: Keep […]

A Simple Secret

Ruby waited by the railings, her heart a bobbing balloon inflated with the scent of sizzling onions and candy floss, beating to the fairground music. She had been looking forward to meeting her friends at the fair. There would be no holding back from the big rides. She was going to try them all. Ruby […]

Something in the Walls

“There’s something in the walls,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the front door. We stood in the hallway, listening, my mother with her ear against the wall. Outside, the wind was dancing a mazurka, spinning branches in its embrace, lifting the door knocker and tapping to come in. “See,” I said. […]

On First Encountering a Stallion

In a dust-clouded paddock, a summer stallion,Not midnight black but deepest brown,Rolled one eye, expressive and defiant,Cautiously curious and determined to be dominant.Tendering my trembling fingers, openPalm of one hand in silent supplication,I kept the other in my jacket,Shuffling cubes of sugar in a pocket,Relishing the sweet sting of anticipation.Startled and skittering from a sudden […]