You might think I cry –it’s just dust in my eyefrom sweeping –I should have been writing –and my sisters aren’t so uglyif I squint through tears. They don’t have a poeticbone in their bodies,not even one that’s romantic,creative or artistic,which makes me wonder,how are we related? They never wash up,do the laundry, sweepthe floor, […]
Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers
Thirty-Three Years On
Thirty-three years have passed in theblink of an eye and the tasteof those first kisses still lingers, ofsea salt on the wind that tied ustogether. I remember theexcitement, the spice,the excitement ofbeing us. Can you remember therolling waves and their hollers,the crash of the rollers andsuck of the ebb? I still feel thepull, the melodies […]
First Kiss
First kissFirst touchFirst stepsAnd all the bees dancing From one of the poem postcardsSarah Connor sent me Night fell fastLights glowed in windowsChimney smoke driftedCondensation in the kitchenScent of homemade lasagneA walk in stars and sea mistLost in conversationMusic and memoriesOpen fire’s hissFirst kiss Misty halo aroundAn October full moonOnly light on the empty streetSand […]
And so…
I emerge, face first,from vertical brushstrokes daubed like a rainstormof bright colours. You might think I’m dressedas Harlequin, but you’re wrong – I am arrayed,dismayed, fighting my waythrough pulsating oiled emotions, scented with linseed,tickled with brushes, waiting to open my eyeson the finished portrait. Maybe I will be finished.Maybe I will recognise myself. Kim M. […]
Farther Down the Line
Gone are the dayswhen train whistlesblew my blues away.What once tookan afternoon nowtakes under an hour:steam has progressedto diesel and electric.Thanks to local fanatics,a little steam trainstill trundles past on time,blowing a fainter whistlefarther down the line. Kim M. Russell, 13th January 2026 It’s Tuesday and time for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, this […]
Little Wave
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 […]
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 […]
writing in north norfolk 