Between falling love and other parts of life,things happen: spring blossoms come and go; waves crash on beaches; parts of mountains c r u m b l e ; skies change colour. We grow up,take on responsibility, land with both feeton the ground. Kim M. Russell, 10th September 2026 It’s Thursday and time for Open […]
Category: Poems
Remembering Miss Spencer
My favourite lesson was English,but as far as teachers were concerned,telling tales of yore with relish,only Miss Spencer could bring history to life. She had taught my mother, was rotund with a kindly face, older,always dressed in black,with amber beads around her neck. Daughter of an Egyptologist,she’d visited the pyramidsand witnessed the opening of tombs;she […]
Falling Apart
The year has started to fallapart. Pointillistic burstingof nuts and fruit. Later, leavescrunching underfoot. Conker shells split,release shiny mahogany kernels. Oaks shed acornsthat hit hard ground with a crack. It’s still warm enough for white butterflies.Craneflies crowd windows or hang in cornersfrom spindly alien legs. Cooler mornings reveal cobwebs,dewdropped now –frosted soon. Kim M. Russell, […]
Drachenfels (Dragon Rock)
It must be fifty years sinceI visited your craggy heightsbeside the majestic Rhine.It was another life and timeon your now distant ridged rock,where I thought I’d finda mythical winged creature.All I found was a twilight cavewith reptiles and spiders padlockedin glass prisons, so easy to release,but too reckless and dangerous. Kim M. Russell, 1st September […]
Nothing is Permanent
You always said to tryto do my best, togrow into the person I wanted to be. You come to me as words, arevenant, urging me to be good,and remain in my heart as a guest. In owl-light, I have learnt to treadcarefully, my feet landing lightlyon the right side of memory. Remember – nothing is […]
A Poet’s Books
I take them with me on a walkto write, record an inner talk:my notebooks. Lined pages are for handwriting,snowy plain pages for drawingin sketchbooks. At night before I go to sleep,I read; beside the bed I keepstorybooks. I switch between them now and then,remembering each one againwith bookmarks. Together on a bookcase shelved, notebooks and […]
August
Once in a lifetime,maybe twice, but no more,you realise that you are turningfrom growing to giving back:ripening. The fruit, grain and light know.Your body knows from the settlingin your chest — a quiet pause,in which you’re not quite readyto let go. Everything ripens:wheat, corn, apple, tomato,sunflower. Even a poem. Kim M. Russell, 18th August 2026 […]
Sky at Night
We did not walk hand in handbeneath the night sky, nor look upat the menagerie of stars or findour own astrological map, or crabs and fish swimmingamong planets. Neither did we seelions stalking goats, hunters wrestlingbulls and rams, horses running free. What we saw was black velvetcushioning stars like diamonds,winking eyes of those we have […]
The Moorings at the End of the Garden
I rise with the sun this morning.Our cat is waiting at the back door. I pull on my wellington boots,unlock the door and let her out. I follow her across dew-soaked grass,grown long, studded with forget-me-nots, down to the back gate. She slipsthough its slats while I stand and admire boats bobbing ungainly on wind-kissed […]
Something in the Air
I can feel it. Thereis something in the air,a change in temperature,in the breezeand the trees,that tells me summerwill soon be donningits mourning cloak,while I celebrate,a fiery skipper,the autumn leafwith its lustrous copper.I’ll write a sonnet on a rusty-tipped pagebefore making my autumn pilgrimage. Kim M. Russell, 4th August 2026 Merril is our host for […]
writing in north norfolk 