Where or When

Things past and present
are linked by a thread and I
am in the middle holding
it all together: my little cat
and my witch’s hat,
all muted colours,
greys and browns.

The doors are locked,
the table is bare,
and I can’t let go
to read the note
pinned to the wall.

I would love to ride
a little white horse
past a lightning tree
beneath a sky full of stars
and a friendly moon –
only the where and when
won’t let me.

Kim M. Russell, 30th January 2025

‘Where or When (Things Past)’ (1948), oil on canvas, 21 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches. All images courtesy of the Carnegie Museum of Art and Colby Museum of Art, shared with permission.

This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub it’s Open Link Night with Grace, and an optional mini-prompt, an ekphrastic challenge based on Gertrude Abercombie’s work, in which Grace asks us to be inspired by the painting ‘Where or When (Things Past) or use the title in our poems.

33 thoughts on “Where or When”

  3. First, for me this type of verse is the all-time most difficult; taking a painting and building poetry round it, so I’m doubly impressed...or more, because the anxiety (even terror) is palpable…I felt the tension so strongly, some empathy, and fear, because what if it was me…every now and then I come across a poem that hits me between the eyes….this really did. What a start…and the last lines, what a tone…

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  6. Kim, I specially love your last verse – the surreal frame pegged to the reality – only the where and when won’t let me. Love the details of your ekphrastic poem specially the cat and witch’s hat.

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