Seven linen shirts spun from nettles and sewn with blistered fingers.Seven white wings thrumming overhead, returning from winter wastes. Seven brothers searching for a blistered sister.Kim M. Russell, 25th April 2024 Image from Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash On the 25th day of Na/GloPoWriMo, I have no idea what the prompt is at NaPoWriMo as […]
Category: Poems about Fairy Tales
Song Without a Voice
I relinquished my voice for the love of a human, swished my silver-scaled tail in brine one last time and, on the celebratory blast of his siren, he winched me on board like a fish on a line. With mortal feet I walked on gilded splinters, felt grains of sand between my dainty toes, soothed […]
Homo(graph) Erectus
On the harbour wall I notice an appealing notice, a poster advertising trips to see the seals. I seal my lips and harbour memories of selkies, magical creatures with tails instead of legs. I imagine colonies of mermen bobbing in the waves, inviting me to join them as they follow in the wake. But then I […]
More than a Little Red
Traditional tales are steeped in bloody red: apples, shoes and roses are less than innocent and Riding Hood performed a striptease for the wolf. She removed her clothes and was eaten by the wolf (for all we know her underwear was also red), believing her hairy grandma must be innocent. When I first heard this […]
The Blue Mountain
was a cold flame on the horizon; it cast a wide-reaching shadow, an other-worldly drift of snow where three royal daughters were trapped by many-headed trolls who loved to have their scalps scratched. Tempted by a generous reward, a soldier arrived with a well-honed sword to make the trolls’ ugly heads roll. The teenage princesses, […]
Binding with Briars
I bind you with a hedge of spiteful briars from the ensorcelled heart of a midnight forest, a rose hidden from men’s desires for a hundred years incanted in a white-hot rage of Beltaine blossom on a thorny cage. Young men will come to press their suit; I’ll pluck and spear their ripened fruit, stick […]
Red Shoes
Heels tapped on the pavement, cracked red patent flashed ’Stop!’ but she could only go despite the pinch on her little toe and the blisters rubbed raw by red shoe leather, lucky pumps borrowed from her sister. No shoes of her own, no trainers, boots or sandals to her name; everything sold to fund her […]
Mirror Magic
The mirror in the garden pond is cracked with rushes, irises, rotting leaves and watercress; a single poppy lingers on, pale petals promise oblivion. In the mirror of the garden spade, a toad with its glittering topaz gaze, legs akimbo and puffed up body dangles from the shiny blade, toxin flooding warty membrane. Mirror, mirror […]
Mother Holle
Loaves steam, apple scent curls and twists from the cauldron; hot breathy spells rise and pop with piquant punctuation in Mother Holle’s kitchen. Her sinister hand conjures incantations, her dexter spins and weaves them needle prick by needle prick into something lyrical and more poetic. She no longer has the youth and charms to lure […]
Bound by Faeries
Bound by a hedge of spiteful briars in the spellbound heart of a night-time forest, a rose lay hidden from men’s desires for a hundred years, as was promised by a jealous fairy in a fit of rage, who imprisoned the palace in a thorny cage. Young men who came to press their suit were […]
writing in north norfolk 