Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers

Bustle

The bustle in a mourning house on the morning of a loved one’s death takes away your breath; it’s the solemnest of industries and the sorriest of duties. You sweep up your heart and set your love apart, petrified with the certainty you’ll not use them until eternity. Kim M. Russell, 22nd April 2023 ‘Death […]

View from an Open Window

No curtains in this humble room,no fabric flapping on the breeze;a smudge of smoke in the distant gloomand a street devoid of birds and trees. The clouds are tinged with morning pink,a forecast of downpours yet to come;a thought to make my poor heart sinkand resolve to spend the day at home. This view of […]

A List of Things That Make a Perfect Day

Being woken by birdsong is a good start to a perfect day, with sunbeams breaching the slatted blind, falling on my face and tickling my nose, one of the cats patting my face with the velvet pads of a paw. A mug of steaming cranberry and raspberry tea is next, followed by fruit of the […]

Cave

find me a comfy cave, not a damp one, i think,nor a dark one, or one of cold stone.i reject your cynicism, despiseyour privilege, coldness, wealth, all useless in my eyes.i would not choose them. I long to see through holes in rock the distant sky,in my home of precious dryness, precious rockadorned with fresh […]

NaPoWriMo Day 3: Two Opposite Poems

The Light However I dismiss the lightas white concreteor the sun as a still-standing cube,now here’s something to be unconcerned about,absolutely. (Including humans…) Aircraft In the beginning,it was so much morethan the girl’s real biplanebeneath the distant desert,where you ran with me. And we stood upto ignore them departing,their black stumble proudwith achromatic darkness,the early […]

The Hollow Earth

The hollow earth callswith a hollow voice,hollow words thudas they fall into mudand winter-dead bracken. How strange that hollowsshould pierce the earthwith yellow burstsof daffodil, narcissus,celandine and crocus. Kim M. Russell, 1st April 2023 April 1 is here, accompanied by the first day of NaPoWriMo. I’m following the National Poetry Writing Month on Facebook and […]

Between Speed Skating and Waitressing

We were chalk and cheesebut thick as thieves,haunting the ice rink together:bright smiles in the photo booth;cheese burgers and ice cream floats;sneaking in the bar underagefor rum and coke. We were young, and drunkon our own loveliness,maxi coats buttoned against icy air,dashing through the foyerwith cheeky grins and a waveat red-coated bouncers,embarking on a friendship […]

This Song

Image by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash This song is mist on a distant hill, a welter of water, whiffling overhead. From unknown skies geese arrive with autumn on their wings, twisting and turning, climbing and falling. This song is a rolling, breaking wave of green on a distant hill. From unknown skies geese arrive with […]