Dad was surrounded all his life by sisters, mother, daughters and a wife; I never saw up close the bond between a father and son. I often wondered how Dad would have been if he’d had a son to kick a ball about, swing a bat at cricket, to rough and tumble play-fight. I tried […]
Category: Poems
A poem to sum up my feelings in this post.
What is the Essence of a Cat?
Is it a purr or the brush of fur against a human cheek? Is it the curl of a curious tail or the tongue that licks it sleek? Is it a velvet paw, the kneading of sharp claws or a pleading squeak? Is it the surprise of a pair of jade or amber eyes and […]
Nature Always Finds a Way
In the hedgerow, a robin spills its joy at weeds and wildflowers unfurling and greening cracks in the pavement, graveyards and verges. It cocks its head and blinks its eye at a trembling of finches in the sky with flashes of yellow and bursts of twittering. Nature always finds a way: midsummer’s insects are only […]
What is Truth?
Truth is not ceramic moulded and fired only to be smashed in hard light of day. Kim M. Russell, 10th June 2018 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Fussy Little Forms: Tetractys Marian wants us to try a simple and elegant form this weekend that may allow us to focus on balance: it […]
Sonnet for my students
My students’ eyes are nothing like the sun, it is as if they are not yet awake; they yawn and shuffle in, but never run, until it gets to time for morning break. I have seen some of them arrive on time, to smile at me and greet me at the door. It is delightful […]
Autumn Ripe
I am no gaunt, leafless winter hawthorn: my trunk is not gnarled nor are my branches a twisted mass, no dark hoard of barbs. I am not creamy froth on outgrown hedges, no early dog rose drenched in dew or sun. I dance and rustle with fallen leaves and glow with autumn fruit, nut and […]
Kissing in the Rain
We inhale scent of roadside pines infused in each raindrop that silver-spatters needles and, snail-like, trickles down their sodden spines. A tidal sussuration, the forest weeps with kisame; we taste rain on our lips: teardrops kissing raindrops, kissing you kissing me. Kim M. Russell, 7th June 2018 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads […]
Losing my Feet
As a child, I loved to run, to feel the ground pulsate as I began to pound and forge my rhythm into speed. Wind on face, the pull of muscle and the burning in my lungs were proof that I was still alive; I could lose my feet and fly. Kim M. Russell, 7th June […]
Invisible Friends
A summer-born child, I lived in my head, I drew, wrote, sang and read, peopling worlds with invisible friends to fill the space where reality ends. Now I feel winter creep into my bones and my poetic graffiti covers the stones, written in lichen of saffron and green; childhood’s buried where it can’t be seen. […]
Homeless
She hobbles over cobbles, oblivious to the flash of gold-finches in the branches of dusty urban trees. They tinkle as they gather round dandelion puffs to eat seeds, collect fluff for their cobbled-together nests, while she’s still looking for a night-time place to rest. Kim M. Russell, 4th May 2018 My response to dVerse Poets […]
