By a pumpkin field there’s an ancient inn,where the wind blows cold and pumpkins grin, and locals are distracted from their ale and rumto stare whenever strangers come. Those who choose to stay for the nightwill wish they hadn’t, with hindsight. Wrapped in sweaty nightclothes’ trammel,one ear listening for the keyhole’s rattle, the naïve and gullible groan and sighat the chilling look in a landlord’s […]
Category: Poems
Aqua Aerobics
The calm surface of the pool,disturbed only by sparkles of lightlike fish weaving through ripples,is broken by a flattering of females,women of a certain age wading in,swimsuit clad, smiling and nattering,happy in the wrinkled map of theirbare skin. The music starts, limbs flailand water churns in an endeavourof exercises. Heads bob like sealsamong a symphony […]
This is how the day begins…
with one eye open,watching morning creepthrough the blind, a peeping tomor sneak thief invading the bedroom. You are still a shadow hunchedunder the covers, a prisonerof the loudly ticking clockimitating the rhythm of heavy rock. Craving quiet before birdsong,I pad barefoot downstairsfor a much needed peeand the first cup of tea, only to find hungry […]
Falling into Autumn
There comes a day, betweenspring’s last blackbird concertand the first swift to fly south,when nature takes a breath. Leaves are already yellow,counting days that empty with their falling,their dusty weariness starts to show;tattered, brittle, they know they must go. On a blustery breeze, fragments of sunset fire to trees with a resplendent blushand a sudden […]
Harvest Mouse
It weighs as little as a silver coin,a harvest mouse enriched with russet gold,concealed in the tall piles of harvest grass,where once the meadow and the wheat field joined. Its nest is filled with berries it purloined,with autumn nuts, and ears of wheat and chaff.The harvester retrieves it with his hand —it weighs as little […]
Awaiting the End of a Day
I wrap myself in darknessto escape the blindinglight of every day:the cup of early morning tea,the cheerful radio host,and birdsong in the garden,when all I craveis the quiet of the grave. I wait for the end of a daywhen there is no moon,only frosted starsin an otherwise black night,and the quiet flight of batscoming home […]
Catching the Heart off Guard
There was a time whenI knew nothing about life on thecoast: how the shore is buffeted by wind;waves spray salty brine above dunes; andseals follow you, riding thewaves glittering in morning light. Now I know the sound of gulls, they arethe music of the sea, laughing at humans workingon boats. Gulls know the beauty of […]
A Darkling Tableau
Where once grasses buzzedwith jazz of cricketsand loud grasshoppers,cornfields have been razedto stubble, and strawploughed in umber earth. Herons stalk soddenfields, through soggy standsof russet bracken,on towards winter,in ancient rhythm,still pulsing with life. It’s the yawn of time,when the hearth’s tonguesets culture on fire,to glow through the blackdome of night untilthe coming of spring. Winter’s […]
Storm on the Horizon
“My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retractsto rally againas mine melts away for half a year” from ‘Polar Heart’ by Simon Barraclough Salt marshes fade awaybeneath late August skiestinged with ever more greyand a violet obsession. My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retracts. Wielding an axe of thunder,a storm skids hooves on dustof a […]
Drowning in the Morning Light
Dreams of swimming with whales and dolphins,once green as the sea, are dispersed in dawn’s golden light. We’re haunted by waves and sea creaturesonly in our sleep; sunrise always steals them away. Sea salt is in our blood, memoriesof the ocean our tears; we drown in the morning light. Kim M. Russell, 25th August 2024 […]
writing in north norfolk 