Category: Poems about Childhood and Youth

The Magic of Sparklers

Gloved hands grippedthem tightly, wandsof metal wire, seemingly fragileyet full of powerful magic. Lips rounded in oohs,we were not old enoughto understand the chemistryof oxidisers and binders. We knew only bright sparks,patterns we drew in the dark. Kim M. Russell, 20th October 2025 This Monday is a sparkler of a day at the dVerse Poets […]

A poem in Penstricken

I have a poem in the autumn issue of Penstricken, which is out today with the theme of Machinery, and is available to read on the website for free at https://ww.penstricken.com/machinery or to buy as a paper copy at https://www.lulu.com/shop/justin-alcala-and-robert-atkins-and-maggie-bayne-and-lesley-tarrant-belcourt/penstricken-4-machinery/paperback/product-rmr75dv.html?q=machinery+penstricken&page=1&pageSize=4 My poem, entitled ‘Any More Fares Please?’, is on page 83. I hope you check […]

Ilse

As much as dill and pickled cucumbers,it’s the cherries that I remember most,growing on two trees outside my window,dark red, fragrant and so sweet. I remember, too, the blossoms every spring.As well as dill and pickled cucumbersin huge jars lined up in the cellar,you preserved cherries in alcohol for winter. From the fresh cherries that […]

Blue Period

I was a quiet, sensitive teenager, who felt songs deeply, like tattoos. I’d never been to sea or travelled abroad, and longed to sail away. But I let someone underneath my skin, where there was an empty space to fill. That was where I went wrong, trusting someone who didn’t have my best interests at […]

Self Portrait with Clouds

I’d heard the voice but never seen its owner,loved the songs but never seen her face,but then I found her self-portrait on a coverwith the words; inside the music and her voice. It was the first time I’d ever seen a portraitor even a painting on a record sleeve;now there was a blonde woman’s blue-eyed […]

A Train Ride Home

I look back on my life,trying to find the splicebetween child and adult,and find iton a train ride home. I’m not long off the Oostende ferry,all set for a week in London;I have a poem half-done,balanced on my knees. From the open window, a sharp breezethreatens to blow it away;I tuck my notebook under my […]

Hippy at Heart

I look back on those carefreedays of the nineteen-seventiesand smell pungent Afghan coats,see maxi skirts and knee-high boots,although I preferred to go barefoot.I loved Indian cheesecloth blouses,bangles, beads and loon trousers,bird-covered and scoop-neckedt-shirts, and velvet Biba rejects,patchouli oil, hats and mood rings,and so many other thingsthat I thought made me differentbut, of course, it was […]

Under the Bed

Darkness is the murkwhere monsters lurk,the black gulp of skyin the depths of night,when no stars glistenand no moon listens.It’s the silent smotherunder the coverwhen you get it in your headthat something’s under the bed. Kim M. Russell, 27th May 2024 Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash This Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub […]

I Wasn’t Born Yesterday

Hunched at the dinner table,meal untouched and cold,I was about to slip downwhen Dad said: ‘Ungrateful child,refusing to eat your food.I wasn’t born yesterday. Stop lyingand crying and go to your room!’But you were born before me,way back in history, and youshould have known better.Once upon a time, in the yesterdayof war, you were sent […]