Morning light streamedthrough roughly-woven curtain, glided across wallsand gilded the bed, picking out ochre stitchesin the knitted blanket and the lime green patternof the cotton pillowcases. A room of fabricsbreathing in stitches, stirred by the chilly breathof a breeze, a subtle alarm – a reminder to take advantageof the quietude, embrace the shadowslingering in corners […]
Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers
Sweet Buzz
It’s back again, thesoporific burr of beeshovering in the fruit trees thatmakes me want to sleep. I watch them burrowing insidespring blossoms. They ignore meas they take their fillof pollen. Lately, mytaste for honey has taken over my mindand I’m dripping withtheir sweet buzz. Kim M. Russell, 30th April 2026 This Thursday at the dVerse […]
Unnamed
This island was mine;I lived alone with everything upon it,unnamed but known to me. Twanging music accompanied the lullabyof voices on the wind and waveswhen this island was mine. Now I collect sticks for firewoodand share the bounty of my isle,unnamed but known to me, with no hope of unconditional love,a gentle touch, a mate […]
Song of the Pick
choreographed and synchronisedfeet placed firmly, picks held highabove ochre earth, stark and barea moment hangs in the stifling airwhile muscles tense and then releaseearth is shattered, so is peacerocks split and stones flymetal sings and souls crysweat glistens, teeth are clencheddust encrusted vests are drenchedthe man just stands hat on headhands in pockets nothing’s said […]
Shining – a golden shovel
I remember whenI first saw you,how fragile you were,and so small,bundled up in yourtoo big babygrow. I held you, cuppedin both palms. I knew that for eachbreath you took I heldmine alittle longer, a candleworthof breath, like being underwater, feeling air trickle through thepores of my skin,just enoughto make me feel as lightas you. I […]
Spring Reversal
Despite tender green leavesand a proliferation of flowersthe world is upside down. Hills rise over the sun, abovethem rivers run, bombsand drones darken skies. Blinkered men are intent on killingone another until Earthstops spinning. Why can’t they stopand smell the scent of springpermeating everything? In this spring reversal, innocent civiliansbecome corpses and tragic orphans. Kim […]
Apflod*
* Anglo-Saxon word for low tide. What impressed our ancestors about the rocky coast?Those wet rocks, barnacled and slick with weed?The immense power of waves that boastas they crash onto the shore, pounding screefrom cliffs to sand? And here I stand, watching gulls circle above;below, the colours of the wild sea are mixedas if a […]
after snowfall…
everything is hushedin ominous silenceanother blizzard waiting in the wings street and house lightspierce night-blackgilding the frozen blanket throwing long shadows on snow-crustthat crunches underfootthe only sound not even a puff of breaththat freezes as soonas it’s exhaled not even clumps that dropfrom eaves and brancheswelcomed by the snow below all is still Kim M. […]
Cinderella’s Lament
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, […]
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 […]
writing in north norfolk 