When the whole world measured time in light and dark, descent and climb, civilisation was still new my child, an infant just like you. One drab June, we wandered ancient grounds, round rain-soaked prehistoric mounds, counting a nursery rhyme of stones. We imagined thousands of dawns and shadows pierced by shafts of light – the […]
Category: Haibun
Wild Bird Tamed
When I was a teenager, I felt that I was caged by my parents, by school and by petty rules of society: wear suitable clothes, don’t smoke, don’t drink, be home by ten, that sort of thing. I rebelled, escaped from the cage and did my own thing. Later, I felt trapped by responsibility: earning […]
Sunrise Whispers
Yesterday morning, I woke up really early and couldn’t get back to sleep. I’d left the blind up in my study the previous evening and, just before five, peeking through the branches, the sun was a red ball hovering over the river. The house and garden were silent, not even a tweet of birdsong, but […]
Felicitous Felinity
When our beautiful Tosca was killed two years ago to this day, I thought I would never find such feline companionship again. I didn’t mourn alone. My husband, who found her, was equally stricken, and Luna, who had never been a lone cat, sat in the garden waiting for her mother to return. After months […]
Testament
Yesterday evening, I watched the beautifully made film ‘Testament of Youth’, which is based on Vera Britten’s autobiography of the same name. It follows her coming of age and blossoming into womanhood during the First World War. Vera Britten was one of the few women accepted into Oxford at that time. When her sweetheart signed […]
Walking with Jasper
I used to love walking with our dog, Jasper. He was a cross-breed Jack Russell and the funniest, most inquisitive dog I’ve ever known. He died on 10th March ten years ago. He was my reason for walking three times a day: in the morning before work, again in the afternoon, and a short walk […]
The Naked Landscape
The nakedness of an early morning sky never ceases to amaze me. It’s as if nothing happens until the sun rises. At just gone five thirty, the lightening sky was washed clean and unadorned, and there was no wild life in the garden, not even a bird. In the time it has taken me to […]
Loneliness
I spend early mornings on my own, from any time between five thirty and six thirty until about nine thirty or even lunchtime, depending on what the day ahead holds. It is, for me, the best time to write. With just the cats for company and a wonderful view of our garden, I hole up […]
Praying One-Bun
On First Seeing ‘Praying Hands’ by Dürer… those honest hands captured in ink, I began to understand spirituality captured in ink, fingers gently pressed in prayer – oh, to draw such hands! Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1411 Praying (one-bun) Today we have a short episode: our task is to create a […]
Stringing Daisies
When I was little, my grandparents had a very small garden: a patch of grass surrounded by flowers, crowded together in their flowerbeds. But my favourite flowers were daisies. Nanny taught me to slit the stalk with my fingernail and thread the daisies into a chain. April surprises rain puddles between grass stalks flowering raindrops […]
writing in north norfolk 