At three o’clock in the morning, she wiped off her make-up, cleaned her teeth and fell into bed, hoping to fall back to sleep. But sleep never came. By six she was up again, back in the leather armchair, watching the light change over the park and the yellow flashes of taxis like darting fish. […]
Month: April 2021
Weathering the Fantasies
Fantasies make their own body heat; warm air under their fluffed feathersprotects them from all kinds of weather,and it’s a cosy place to tuck their beaks. A build-up of fat under the epidermis is like fantastic thermal underwear; they can sit out long Antarctic winters or soar above the Himalayas. You might think that fantasies’ […]
Clever Fish
Soundlessbubbles slipfrom lips;silentpops and kissesbecomenouns,adjectives,verbs that swimbetweenlinesof verse,glittering silver-scaled wordswhisperingsun-dappledthroughthe lengthof a poem,against the flow,but with the tide. Clever fish. Kim M. Russell, 23rd April 2021 Image by Steve Halama on Unsplash My response to NaPoWriMo Day Twenty-Three Day twenty-three and the challenge is to write a poem that responds, in some way, to another. […]
A Seuss Kind of Spring
In the first days of spring, when night’s frost melts in seconds, a heron streaks upstream, where the seed heads are darkened; they are weighted by rain as it drifts in a flurry, milky air lining grass blades. We are not in a hurry. We are dancing and singing on dew-pearly meadows and we’re waiting […]
Transistor Radio
No crystal clarity of stereoor speaker power(to speak of)but my battery-powered transistor radioaccompanied methroughout dayswhen I was not at schooland undercover at night,where I’d tune into pirates of the airwaves,a patchouli-scented teenagerin a council flatimagining Woodstock or Monterey. Kim M. Russell, 22nd April 2021 Image by Alex Blăjan on Unsplash My response to NaPoWriMo Day […]
A Murder of Crows
A murder of crows reminds her of her distant home.A murder of crows reminds her of the man she left behind.A murder of crows reminds her of the patter of rain.A murder of crows reminds her of night.A murder of crows reminds her she is alone.A murder – her crow-black eyes like stones. Kim M. […]
Crows Calling at Night
Crows in the boughs remind her of her distant home, the man she left behind. Perhaps he listens to the patter of the rain, the cawing of the roosting birds, and thinks of her. So alone, she lies down on her bed, her crow black eyes like stones. Kim M. Russell, 20th April 2021 Image […]
Swimming Wild
The evening tide is syrupy, strange ripples shivering. It laps at banks and licks salty rocks, as if it’s haunted. We dive in the river. It ties us in intricate knots. Kim M. Russell, 20th April 2021 Image by Christoper Osten on Unsplash My response to NaPoWriMo Day Twenty We’re two-thirds of the way through […]
Spring Clean or Another Poem?
Do I really want to bother with housework today? I would really much rather sit down here and play with words on the computer than soap up a lather in a bucket or the washing machine. I’d rather write poems than make everything clean! Kim M. Russell, 19th April 2021 Image found on dreamstime.com My […]
Throw Away Planet
We dream of fishing for stars in the oceanbut, in the cold light of day,there are more micro-plastics in the seathan stars in the milky way. Whole constellations and shoals of fishare caught in the rainbow sprayof detritus uncoiling like whales’ intestinesand landing on every beach and bay. Human’s packaging and discarded netsare evils against […]