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 […]
Category: Poems
Two AI Micro Poems
Mist – A Haiku translucent dawninga light, flimsy mist swallowspieces of old cardboard Granite – A Didactic Cinquain graniteimpervious, greystand, shine, survivesymbolising all things unweatheredrock Kim M. Russell (and some artificial intelligence), 23rd February 2023 Image by Jeppe Hove Jensen on Unsplash It’s Thursday and we’re Meeting the Bar over at the dVerse Poets Pub […]
A Spring Sonnet
Golden spring, you inspire me to write.The way you pierce, renew and burstinvades my thoughts all day and night,weaving itself into lines of verse. I could compare you to a gentle larch.You are more fragrant, forgiving and fresh,though sudden frost may freeze buds in Marchand give me sudden shivers with its caress. How do I […]
Kissing Beneath Wood Smoke and Stars
Those first kisses beneath wood smoke and starswill stay with us forever, exploding with capriciouspiquancy that still lingers, effervescent in our mouths.The drought had broken like an ocean wave,a tang of North Sea air, ice-cold and delicious,and all we wanted was to drown in our embrace,heartbeats echoing, rhythmic and auspicious,lost in wood smoke kisses, stars […]
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 […]
Hold My Hand
You don’t need to make big gestures,spend all your money, hand me the moon,photograph or paint me in vivid pictures,or feed me exotic food on a silver spoon. As the Beatles sang in our distant youth,I want to hold your hand. You don’t have to pretend to understandevery single poem I’ve ever composed,take me on […]
Last of the Wild Places
It is the last of the wild places,drifts at the windy corners,a low, far-reaching expanse. The night was so transparent:mud flats and tidal pools;clumps of bushes made black stains;of human inhabitants there are none. Two black Norway spruces,desolate, utterly lonelywhere the road fell away. Greys and blues and soft greens,fresh furrows in the track.Skies are […]
This gift of poetry
is as precious as the new year’s rainreplaced by silent prayers of frosttempering trees with a white crust it’s as welcome as a new dawnof impossible colours, deep skywashed to breath-taking lucidity it’s the joy of low winter sunlighting up a butter-yellow aconitestill clenched fist-tight it’s the trees’ chill breathof leaf mulch, pine and barkand […]
Nellie
She was the waft of lavendergrowing by the front door,a squirt of lily of the valley,and the breezy scent of washing day. She was a little cockney sparrergreeting everyone by their moniker,trilling songs from the good old daysas she polished and flicked dust away. She was the rumble of her shopping trolleyon the broken pavements, […]
Encounter with a Fox
After rain,worms wrigglefrom their burrows,only to drownin the lane’s deep furrowspuddled with waterand clottedwith mud. Further along,where the shadowsgather, I turn to look backat the sinkingof the rosy sun and see,surreptitiouslypadding,a dog fox. He lowershis rusty headand gulps a mouthfulof worms, an entréebefore he slinks away,ears pricked towardsthe nearest frog or mouse,rabbit hutch or hen […]
writing in north norfolk 