My paddle sings a song of gnarly bankside roots,of snagging water lilies and bulrushesof gurgling, drips and splashes. My paddle sings a song of stately swans,of graceful grebes and other waterfowl,of agile otters and shy water voles. My paddle sings a song of riverside pubs,of cottages, farms and windmills,of flat landscapes and a dearth of […]
Month: September 2025
Nutted
Last Wednesday, David and I visited one of our favourite places, a little out-of-the-way Norfolk village called Heydon. It’s a quaint old village, with only one way in and out, and it has a village green (very Enid Blyton), a few artisan shops, a pub, a tea room, a church and a country manor. Heydon […]
Don’t Worry
There is no art to happinessit just isa big surprisea giggle from deep in your soul. Don’t worry.You don’t choose to be happyit just happens sooner or latera happy accident. When you stumble on happinessembrace itgive it a big sloppy kisschoose it over everything else. Happiness will not pass you byit will linger a whilelike […]
A Quadrille of Rose Petals
They bloomed vividlyin sunlight,until a wind shook upclusters of roses,snatched themfrom the fragile bushand dashed themon the grass.This scattering of petalsconcealed unwritten words,romance in corollas;despite the thorns and storms,spilled poetry and perfume. Kim M, Russell, 22nd September 2025 This Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, Lill is hosting the Quadrille with ‘petals’.
Red Kites
They sweep the silvered clouds,wheeling and tumbling, a pair of stringless red kites,red-brown in an immense sky. Their yellow beaks and snow-white under-wings flash with afternoon sun, red-brown tail forks scything azureand pale yellow eyes scanning for easy preydarting through red-brown bracken. Kim M. Russell, 18th September 2025 This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub we […]
Le Bateau-atelier
In a quiet place of greens and greys,of rippling reflections and pensive days, a place to muse on form and shape,in the changing light of the waterscape, the river’s fringed with leafy treesthat tremble in a gentle breeze and waver in the flowing riveras if reflected in a mirror. In the solitude of his atelier,the […]
Pea Souper
It was the first Jack the Ripper experience for Melanie, accompanying her brother, Simon, out-of-work actor and part-time London Walks guide. She’d enjoyed his Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens walks, but this one was creepier: it was autumn, twilight had already turned to night, and the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes […]
Rummaging
“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.” From Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Digging deep into the handbagof my soul, I find a snot-filled tissueof lies, a childhood fraught with tearsand worry, my mother’s bloody nose,coming home from school on my ownto find a locked door, […]
So Much More
So much more has becomeof tiny, briny crystals, salty tearscollecting on seaweed or in oyster shellsto conjure shiny pearls. Rising to the surface,they’re tossed in storms,ebb and flow out of reach,or delight us on sandcastles on a beach. Kim M. Russell, 8th September 2025 Monday has come around again, and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, […]
Seasonal Vertigo
Tilt- edhead like a birdwith goodbye in its eyes,summer is about to leave usbehind. Ahead,autumn’s about to glow;a hello in its eyes.I feel the worldtilt- ing. Kim M. Russell, 4th September 2025 I can’t believe it’s Thursday already and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, we are Meeting the Bar with Björn and cinquains. Björn says […]
writing in north norfolk 