For the past few weeks I’d caught it echoing across the village, a lazy iambic chant. When you heard it too, we smiled together at the rare sound of the cuckoo’s two-note song. We forgot that it’s a cold-hearted parasite, hatched and nurtured to the tune of another bird’s lullaby. We were oblivious to its […]
Category: Poems
Dragon Quadrille
What has become of dragons? Do they leave trails of scales and seaweed on every rock and shore? Do dragons roar in echoes of thunderstorms, scorch burling clouds with lightning from their tails? Do dragons lurk in lava and ore deep within the earth’s core? What are they forging? Kim M. Russell, 3rd June 2019 […]
Ghazal of Trees
I marvel at the strength and grace of the green sinewy limbs of trees. There’s a frisson of surprise and joy when a flock of birds explodes from trees. I’m hypnotised by the dance of shadow and light when evening thrills through trees. My imagination takes flight when I see silhouettes of storm-blasted trees. I […]
A Brewing Storm
Salt marshes fade away beneath September skies tinged with nevermore grey and a violet obsession. I insist I’m right as rain, and brave the nor’easter to follow the riverway, fired up by a raven wing and the promise of a stormy day. Kim M. Russell, 30th May 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real […]
Thinking of Prague
A dense morning fog hides statues flanking the river on both sides and wraps the castle in a shroud, hiding its glory from the small crowd that leaves the medieval town to cross the Gothic bridge of stone. We dodge each oncoming tourist, each phantom emerging from the mist, make our way to a coffee […]
Hints of Sepia – My Great Grandfather
The sepia of the creased photo hints at breath of ale and sweet tobacco that clung to pipes lined up in a rack. It echoes with the tock of a mantel clock and the faster tick of a watch tethered to his pocket by a brass chain. His moustache, waxed and sharp, would prickle your […]
The Lawless Season
In the midst of human lawlessness, we revel in spring’s lawlessness. Flares of yellow furze bushes are ignited by spring’s lawlessness. Fragrant frothing apple trees rejoice in nature’s lawlessness. Oaks are bursting into leaf, awakened by the lawlessness. Brambles break through wind-blown fences thorny-sharp with lawlessness. Every morning birds awake us singing praise to lawlessness. […]
