I count a string of them on the power line:one, two, three, four, five pigeons,plump, grey, grumbling curmudgeons,comical and pearly – and with a loudclap of wings they explode,like fireworks that have lost their sparks,and disappear into the dark. Kim M. Russell, 30th September 2024 Image found on 123RF.com This Monday at the dVerse Poets […]
Month: September 2024
In a Hotel Lobby
She waits, her legs tucked in demurely,an open book in her hands,but she doesn’t see the words; one eyeis on reception, its counterpolished and bee-wax-scented. Surelyhe isn’t late? The couple on the otherside of the late-night hotel lobbylook married; he stands,coat draped over arm while his seated wifetries to catch his eye. And then the […]
Aqua Aerobics
The calm surface of the pool,disturbed only by sparkles of lightlike fish weaving through ripples,is broken by a flattering of females,women of a certain age wading in,swimsuit clad, smiling and nattering,happy in the wrinkled map of theirbare skin. The music starts, limbs flailand water churns in an endeavourof exercises. Heads bob like sealsamong a symphony […]
This is how the day begins…
with one eye open,watching morning creepthrough the blind, a peeping tomor sneak thief invading the bedroom. You are still a shadow hunchedunder the covers, a prisonerof the loudly ticking clockimitating the rhythm of heavy rock. Craving quiet before birdsong,I pad barefoot downstairsfor a much needed peeand the first cup of tea, only to find hungry […]
Falling into Autumn
There comes a day, betweenspring’s last blackbird concertand the first swift to fly south,when nature takes a breath. Leaves are already yellow,counting days that empty with their falling,their dusty weariness starts to show;tattered, brittle, they know they must go. On a blustery breeze, fragments of sunset fire to trees with a resplendent blushand a sudden […]
Equinox
I look at the garden and surrounding fields, and marvel at the abundance of autumn. A squirrel balances on a fence post, nibbling a piece of windfall apple. Cooing pigeons balance on the overhead electricity wire. I wish had better balance. As I’ve grown older, I’ve lost my centre, bump into things, trip and fall. […]
Harvest Mouse
It weighs as little as a silver coin,a harvest mouse enriched with russet gold,concealed in the tall piles of harvest grass,where once the meadow and the wheat field joined. Its nest is filled with berries it purloined,with autumn nuts, and ears of wheat and chaff.The harvester retrieves it with his hand —it weighs as little […]
Awaiting the End of a Day
I wrap myself in darknessto escape the blindinglight of every day:the cup of early morning tea,the cheerful radio host,and birdsong in the garden,when all I craveis the quiet of the grave. I wait for the end of a daywhen there is no moon,only frosted starsin an otherwise black night,and the quiet flight of batscoming home […]
Vampiric
She savours the salty iron tangof liquid frothing from a newly-punctured vein,revels in claret tributaries flowing,returning again and again.It caresses her vampire lips,down her throat it slips,spooking addicts in the graveyard gloomand lovers entwined by her tomb. Kim M. Russell, 16th September 2024 Image of Geraldine Dvorak, bride of Dracula, from the 1931 film Dracula […]
Catching the Heart off Guard
There was a time whenI knew nothing about life on thecoast: how the shore is buffeted by wind;waves spray salty brine above dunes; andseals follow you, riding thewaves glittering in morning light. Now I know the sound of gulls, they arethe music of the sea, laughing at humans workingon boats. Gulls know the beauty of […]
writing in north norfolk 