Amid the balmy, briny breath,the whiff of wind-worn rockand washed-up bladderwrack, a great white birdemerges from the ocean. It’s a pterodactyl-like contraptionof hollow bones and feathers, buffetedby the coming storm. Puppeted, the gannet freezesmid-flight, a scribble torn between fantastic nacreous cloudsand foaming green waves,trapped in the anticipation of an early sea grave. Kim M. Russell, […]
Category: Poems
Grappling with Ottavo Rima
In the quest for a sonetto rispetto,I rummage in the archives of my mind, whereI find the ghosts of poems to set fire toand let the words drift in the cold morning air.Words turn into iridescent birds, undomy heart, fray my resolve, challenge with a dareto grasp as many words as my hands can hold,write […]
Safety in Numbers
I share my life with numbers,I share my secrets too,and numbers tell me everythingthat I need to know and do. I like to add up numbers,I like to take them away;I’m learning how to multiplyand divide them every day. I can rely on numbers,they can rely on me,but when I’m ready for bed,I much prefer […]
Sketches of Delft
The Dutch master at his canvas,holding palette and brush,is bathed in February gold.Delft rooftops are drenchedin the light of the golden dawndripping like honeyfrom a golden goblet.Skaters on still-frozen canalsbecome ice folliespainted in the lemon beautyof the sun’s split corona,a celebration of the fragility,the thin veil between winter and spring. Kim M. Russell, 12th March […]
Naivety
Before knowledgeand creativity,all that humankind hadwas naivety:footprints left on a beach,handprints on cave walls,the remains of simpleartisanal tools –the beginnings of civilisationin a flourishing green world,unaware they wouldbe discoveredthousands of milesfrom their origins,thousands of yearsafter their last breaths,along the North Sea’scrumbling cliffs. Kim M. Russell, 5th March 2024 Free image found on Pexels It’s Tuesday, […]
No Longer Slumbering
With the scent of snow still lingeringdespite winter’s unbattening,all our senses are shiveringwith the familiar inklings of spring:cut-outs of birds silhouettingan anaemic sky; sparklingstars of celandines yellowingwinter browns; and quiveringsnowdrops and daffodils spring,no longer slumbering. Kim M. Russell, 4th March 2024 Punam is our host for the dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille this Monday, and we […]
Hares Leaping
February’s about to give wayto March winds and galesthat set catkins dancing,and owls hooting and cryingtheir music of the night. But they’re creatures of air;spirits of spring are hares,boxing and leaping all overfield and hedgerow with spring fever –shadowy bookends to the working day. Kim M. Russell, 27th February 2024 Image by Mathias Elle on […]
Just a Dint
Spring has dinted winter’s doom – to the delight of wind-blown clouds;little stirs in snow-stricken woods, save fragile webs. Rooks in flocks forge homeward, fresh-snapped twigs in beaks,coal-black and burnished, in branches chattering. Before March gales come galloping, graceful catkins dancebeneath a pale and partly faded, pink half-hearted sun. Kim M. Russell, 23rd February 2024 […]
Walking with Colours
Today it rained.I didn’t go for a walk,not even with my brightblue umbrella.it was too greyafter yesterday. I did the ironing instead;all the dark washing,nothing orange, pink or red,which didn’t help.But then I got thinkingabout yesterday: my neighbour’s daffodilsnodding bright yellowin short gusts,and the primroses’ pale frills,the thrustof golden crocuses, and the early quince blossomlending […]
Spring Skyline
There are few blooms in the city yet,save a misty cerise-tinged sunset; one can only imagine a haze of wetcherry blossoms defining sooty silhouettes and pinking up the skyline. Who am Ito criticise a city dweller who climbs high enough into the sky to smell the distant,violaceous lilac tree’s aromatic scent? Kim M. Russell, 15th […]
writing in north norfolk 