With their matching colours, red moon, red coat, it was just a matter of distance and perspective. She was small in its presence, but once in space she knew she would float. It was such a huge leap, from skin to moon rocks, even in new boots, gloves and thermal socks. But the colours matched, […]
Category: Poems Inspired by Artists, Music and Other Writers
Observations from a Hotel
I would love to observe the universein a hotel room almost touching stars.Spread-eagled on the bed,meteors and stardust in my head,the moon and her backing singerswould croon a lullaby, sleep-bringersand universal dream-weavers,rocking this would-be astronaut to sleep, breathless at an altitude of 10,171 feet. Kim M. Russell, 2nd April 2024 Photo by John McKaveney: Orion. […]
The Night Circus
It’s a circus of dreams, clouds,ice and magic, open only at night,in tents striped black and white. It appears to dreamers,sometimes joyous, often tragic,enraptured by the mystery and magic. Centre stage, two young magicians,well-matched in skills and wit,impelled by the shadowy circus to pit themselves against each other, discoverlove in circus shadows and maybe deathin […]
Golconda
City gents without umbrellasfall from the sky like rain; I feel sorry for those fellas,bowler-hatted, dressed in grey, early for work in the morning,late home at the end of the day. Disenchanted gents are fallingpast suburban windows where their perfect wives are waiting,aprons on, scent behind ears, in their hands a glass of something,a peck […]
View from the Ochre Room
In his studio in the asylum at Saint Remy,the artist sets up his easel, takes a sheetof paper the size of a street poster (maybeit was once a poster), and attaches it,smooths it flat, arranges chalks, oils,watercolours and brushes.He chooses carefully, black chalkto sketch the window, a little off-centre.Light passes through the glass of jars,bottles […]
Just Saying
It’s not just a cup of tea,it’s fragrant steamfrom a porcelain bowl,leaves inside blossoming outside. It’s not just a breath of air,it’s hundreds of yearsof leaves and latewood,Earth’s redemption. It’s not just the sea,it’s immeasurable depthsand creatures as mysteriousas aliens somewhere in space. It’s not just poetry,it’s time scrunched into a balland smoothed out again,words […]
Lost
I think I’velost my mind; it’s beena while since I felt anything. I lockedmyself away in case it broke like an egg insidemy head. If you gave me yourhand, I’d give you my heart,only it’s shapedlike a box,and lost with my mind forthe last few weeks. Kim M. Russell, 20th February 2024 Image by Gaelle […]
Spring Skyline
There are few blooms in the city yet,save a misty cerise-tinged sunset; one can only imagine a haze of wetcherry blossoms defining sooty silhouettes and pinking up the skyline. Who am Ito criticise a city dweller who climbs high enough into the sky to smell the distant,violaceous lilac tree’s aromatic scent? Kim M. Russell, 15th […]
Woman with Flowered Hat
I cannot greet with nod of head,so I walk erect and smile insteadat passers-by who stop and stareat the flowered hat atop my hair.My neck is long, the hat is tall,I must beware in case it falls.Tottering along the crowded lanes,I dodge the parasols and canes;the flamboyant blossoms on my hatraise whispering and lots of […]
Frequently the woods are pink
Frequently the woods are pink,hunched over, shy and nude,creeping round churned up fields. Carrion crows, grey as fading ink,pick at drowned worms, rudeand raucous as they wield sharp, curved beaks then sinkthem into mud, cackling a lewdcaw. Breaks in the treeline reveal the village church, a chinkof grey stone to lighten the mood,bobbing on the […]
writing in north norfolk 