“My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retractsto rally againas mine melts away for half a year” from ‘Polar Heart’ by Simon Barraclough Salt marshes fade awaybeneath late August skiestinged with ever more greyand a violet obsession. My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retracts. Wielding an axe of thunder,a storm skids hooves on dustof a […]
Month: August 2024
Signs of a Changing Season
There are signs all around me, subtle at first, but becoming more noticeable every day. The plums that last week were sweet and edible, are now covered in wasps and mould. Apples litter the grass, and a squirrel hops between them, nibbling on a piece between its claws. When I open the door to bring […]
Drowning in the Morning Light
Dreams of swimming with whales and dolphins,once green as the sea, are dispersed in dawn’s golden light. We’re haunted by waves and sea creaturesonly in our sleep; sunrise always steals them away. Sea salt is in our blood, memoriesof the ocean our tears; we drown in the morning light. Kim M. Russell, 25th August 2024 […]
Birthday Bouquet
The birthday bouquetis more than a week oldand wilting in the vase A shapely vase of glasshalf-filled with scummy waterglinting in the sun A mixture of flowersraise heads in a last hurrahof purple and pale yellow Brown-tinged leaves hangover the lip of the vaseover like the birthday Small white rosesstruggle to peek abovethe flaccid foliage […]
The Marriage of Apple and Cheese
I wash an apple under cold water;drops pearl on its blush like sweat on summerskin, releasing a burst of green scent.I let it dry while cutting slices from a blockof tangy, mature Cheddar cheese, redolentwith the laziness of cows, and then piercethe heart of the orb, cut it into eighths,and place them with the cheese […]
Bending Towards Autumn
The cool breathof autumn rises from earlymornings laced with dew, the golden dustiness of pearlyharvest light, the heady perfumeof marjoram and wild basil, and the clouds of bluebutterflies that bend the headsof nodding harebells before they fly away. Kim M. Russell, 19th August 2024 Free image found on Pixabay This Monday at the dVerse Poets […]
Suffolk Scallop
‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’, from Benjamin Britten’s opera, Peter Grimes. Pebbles slip and roll beneath our soleson the slope down to the ebb and swell. Suddenly it erupts from the shingle beach,a sculpture, two halves of a broken shell like hands extended to a passing gullor a cloud, one half upright, the […]
Musings of a Poetic Cat
You imagine me, curled like a commain your lap, the rumble of my purr,your fingers stroking silky fur,and wonder why I walk alone. I greet you with a gentle head buttfollowing a successful hunt;however, my gift is unappreciated,you grimace and refuse to eat it. You fail to understand that I was borninto feline aristocracy; a […]
Waiting for Harvest
Rapeseed flowers and summerare no longer yellow, ratherbushy, their pods buffed and brittle.Wheat and emotions bristle,stalks and stubble stiffly sway,growing more bleached every day.We wait, baskets filled with apples,watching as the season dapples,before autumn’s fruity, rosy huestip us into winter blues. Kim M. Russell, 13th August 2024 Image by Julia Kicova on Unsplash It’s Tuesday […]
At the Prater
We met at the old Prater Ferris wheel on a chilly September afternoon. The aroma of Vienna sausage and the fairground music drifting on the wind were tinged with melancholy. We watched families and young couples fill the wooden cabins before wandering off to a café, where he ordered us both a hot chocolate with […]
writing in north norfolk 