In September, amber apples drop from the branch, crunch in grass soaked with dew and mist, kissed by footprints in a damp embrace. Lace of spiders’ gossamer cobwebs ebbs on an autumnal breeze. Trees smoulder, each leaf an ember in September. © Kim M. Russell, 2016 I have taken a sonnet I wrote last year […]
Category: Poems
City of Bridges and Sighs
Give me a city of bridges and sighs, Shimmering water under cloudless skies, Flocking pigeons in St Mark’s Square Fed by the crowds of tourists there. Give me the surprise of a piazzale, The clanging of the bell in the Campanile, Echoes of gondoliers in the early morning haze And overcrowded vaporetti in the watery […]
Sea Sand Quadrille
Found in ‘We lying by seasand’ by Dylan Thomas Lying in a yellow grave of yellow sand and grave sea, silent tide lapping hollow yellow alcove of words between water storm and desert, we wish for wind to blow away our ills, cure them with golden weather and a one-coloured yellow cicada calm. © Kim […]
Finding Death’s Dominion
I have seen death’s dominion On the screen of my television: In the broad light of a September sun, A sky filled with bodies and broken bones. We did go mad to see those planes Annihilate the towers; Once more we are sane, We are dusty flowers Lifting our heads to the rain, Never wanting […]
Boxed in
Creak of ropes melds with creak of trees Bare wooden boxes swing in the breeze Contorted bone and spine are folded in Cubes of splintered wood on naked skin Swinging high amongst leaves and limbs Incarcerated at the furious forest’s whim Open to elements and nature’s powers Punishing heat, cold, wind and showers Revenge is […]
Opening the Day
Opening sleepy eyes, The openness of a new day Breaks through the slats Of the blind – Not blind but open. Opening mouth, Taking a breath At the wide open window, Opening lungs, mind and soul. Each day is a gift To be opened. © Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to dVerse Poets Pub […]
Seasonal Clues
The harsh heat of summer Has run its course, Leaving seasonal clues Of paler blues And hedgerows full Of tender blackberries. Hawthorn and rowan trees droop With the weight of fruit, And crab apples spill In a carpet of swarming wasps. Outside windows, Threatening crane flies pose On long, spindly legs, aliens Clamouring to enter […]
Indecision
Life is a codex Of cinematic Sehnsucht For the perfect past Of twenty-twenty vision, Feinting indecision And fear of a formidable future. While other people’s lives glisten With undiscovered or important Minerals of the moment, I drift between noun And navel-gazing, Unable To choose. © Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Wordle […]
Mojo
There’s a warmth Across my back That sinks into my heart: A tiny, stripy witch’s cat Between my spine And the cushion where I’m sat, Vibrating like a juju stick, Keeping my gripes at bay, Lightening up A sad old tabby day. © Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to imaginary garden with real toads […]
Some of my Mother is Missing
Lost slippers and kittens, Long ago days on a windy beach, The china owl you gave her, All are out of reach. The smile you remember is missing, A fading smear on her lips; The touch of the hand you are holding Is a mere brush of her fingertips. The photographs that you show her […]
writing in north norfolk 