She is of water, a female element, a liminal creature,cold-blooded, not quite fish, not quite human,a little wave swimming free. She was curious about the man who bathed in the waterfall,where she loved to sing, a descant tinklingabove the splash and gush. She fell in love with his earthiness, the way his feet were plantedfirmly […]
Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers
A Roof Against the Rain (a quadrille)
You’re my roof against the rain,where I’m safe from thunder-grumblesechoing across the sky and sharplightning forks stabbing the earth.Life’s not always a stormy downpour,it can be a refreshing shower.I’m glad that you aremy roof against the rain. Kim M. Russell, 21st November 2025 Today Sanaa is delighted to host Open Link Night at the dVerse […]
The Letter
The fragile paper almost torewith the pressure of her pen,ink blotting, words bleeding.So she wrote it out againon thicker vellum. The original words had fallenlike confetti from her hand – butwhen she copied them out,they did not express her emotion;they seemed flat. Heart fluttering with frustration,hand slick with perspiration,she focused on the punctuation;the final full […]
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 […]
Haunting Aimlessly
The antiquities museum is bereftonce all the visitors have left, until October moonlight breaksthe darkness, shaking halls awake. He sits upon a muzzle-less horse,the rider’s lost his head of course. He cannot ride, dismount or stand,he has no legs, feet, arms or hands. Moon-bathed they start to come alive,horse and rider spectrally strive to canter […]
Memory is the Happiness of Being Alone
with the familiar heftof the tome,the unique cover,anticipation of what’s inside. It’s the imprintof fingers on paperand the gentle flickof a page. Print marks magicallyconjure meaning,images, sounds and emotionsin the happy quietude of alone. It’s transportationto another place or time,into the mind of someoneyou will never touch, but you can love and respect,despise, accept or […]
Feeling October
October days are feeling softer,the day beginning with scarves of mist and dewdrops, the sky now grey and filled with raindrops and the leaves like chameleonschanging from green to yellow to orange to red.A fleet of tractors rumbles up the muddy road rattling the windows. First wood smokedrifts skyward with the chattering crows. Kim M. […]
Frame
Vincent painted views overand over again of the asylum gardenbeyond his window frame, so in love with autumn’s colours,unable to refrain, admitting to his brother Theoit would be the same every day, until autumn came tumblingfrom the trees. He would never grow weary of garden,sky and leaves. Kim M. Russell, 1st October 2025 I have […]
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 […]
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 […]
writing in north norfolk 