Ripped from the comfort of familiar soil my roots feel the limits of a pot; my shoots are anxious to uncurl before they shrivel up and rot. Other plants on the window sill are greener, more colourful than me, the tulips and the daffodils bursting from their bulbs with glee. I feed on dreams of […]
Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers
Childhood Goblins
Towers, chimneys and rooftops disintegrate in a colourwash of sunset and night’s ink drops spill into puddles of dreams, when children hear the goblins cry: “Come buy our fruits, come buy, come buy!” Curious thoughts enter little heads that lie in comfort on soft pillows, invade the safety of their beds, pull at the quilts, remove the […]
Dancing in the Centre of a Noun
(from Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Anne Hathaway’) Encircling all my words with his,he caressed them with a gentle touch,slipped them on as if they were ashoe, a glove, a familiar verbhe desired for his own; dancingtogether to a melody inquadruple time, echoing thebeat of hearts, we were the centreof the serious ceremony ofthe allemande: we were […]
Thirst
sun-blasted pasture craves cloud a satisfying sip of shadow withered grass gasps a long rattling breath in the meadow stretches a dusty lustreless tongue across burning red soil and licks the sea Kim M. Russell, 2017 Mi Young Lee My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Bits Of Inspiration ~ Mi Young Lee Susie […]
Wherryman
Evening and wherryman rolls sails to the sound of dry reeds on the banks the constant rustling and whistling grey herons and avocets bobbing on the waves otters anoint their territory to the east of this shimmering Norfolk Broad the sun always sets […]
T-shirt
creased up at the foot of the bed, hugging to itself the scent of you, a scent that it releases and exudes as I fold it tenderly Kim M. Russell My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Poems in April – Poetry through the eyes of Carol Ann Duffy A big welcome to Sanaa, […]
Wichita Wife
She was a Wichita wife, married to a lineman: years of mending holes in overalls stitching up their life and waiting for his calls. Now she trudges lonely roads, past sagging wires and endless lines of poles, straight as the hems she used to sew. She heads west towards the fire of the setting sun, […]
American Sentences in the Rain
My first time in New York, by the Hudson, under a black umbrella. So much rain, waterlogged shoes, and Miss Liberty draped in cloud and fog. Open umbrellas in an open-topped bus, watercolour city. Dodging puddles on Fifth Avenue, we found shelter under awnings. New York dripping in my ears, American sentences in the rain. […]
Malevolent, Me?
You may think me obsequious, creepy and cadaverous, a hand-wringing usurer and sly blackmailer, but I did it all for love. I cannot help the alabaster hands that manipulate my master, the delicate brows and lashes framing blood red eyes. I know I am despised. My name may sound infectious, possibly pernicious, but it’s an […]
Paradise Cobbled
Cobbles have been laid over paradise With stables for carriages and horses, Bawdy taverns, markets, court masques and plays. Life does not follow preordained courses, Cherishing what you have is good practice For tomorrow may well be its demise. Cobbles have been laid over paradise With stables for carriages and horses; They have taken an […]
writing in north norfolk 