Survivors in a Ruined City

We hide while bombs destroy our homes,mothers and children hunkeredin the dust of a city reduced to its bare bones. Men came, destroyed and, conscienceless,fled the scenes of devastation; they aregone while we survivors are hopeless, watching the afterbirth of jet contrailsstill fading in the silent sky.It will take years to clear the city of […]

Certainty

How can we be sure that our                             two hearts beat as one;that our two planets orbit                             around the same sun;that our footprints travel                             in the same direction?Do we share the same emotion?                             And how do we know? Kim M. Russell, 19th October 2023 Image by Filipp Romanovski on Unsplash It’s Thursday and at the dVerse […]

Grief Crows

The last of the wildflowershas faded, the air is pregnant           with the first breath of falling          leaves, and long grass is meshed with violet splashes, commonknapweed on common ground.           A glance overhead reveals          something flapping, a black glove or a hand, waving, first oneand then another, keeping close,           mime artists skittering – […]

Tureen

The tureen is porcelain and deepand filled with thick and creamy soup.The scent is spicy and aromatic,the colours vivid and chromatic,with orange carrot and butternut squash,silver onion, green celery, a red flashof chilli flakes in a constellation,and floating planets of crunchy crouton.The ladle sits in its shiny groove,waiting for one of us to make a […]

Five oak trees point the way

(i)Look out for magpies,five on my silver birch,they will laugh at youfor a while, untilyou have counted them all. (ii)Listen for the sound of acornsfalling and bouncingacross the roadwhere five oak treespoint the way. (iii)Follow the aromaof freshly brewed coffeefrom the pubin the bend of the road –it opens at five. (iv)Don’t forget to stroke […]

Once it was the Colour of Dreaming

Once it was the colour of dreamingthat filled the sky with countless stars;while other girls spent their youth in barsI would watch the cosmos streaming.Submersed in the soft light of the moon,exploring her face, its perfections and its scars,I whistled along with owl and nightingale.Oblivious to time, the morning came too soonand the colour of […]

flamenco beat

I’m not one for dancingI soak up sights and writerhythmic poetryrecreate castanetsromance of sights and lights sitting in a cornerthe slap of clapping handstransforms into wordsthe dizzy whirl of skirtsSpanish fans, clapping hands Kim M. Russell, 21st September 2023 Image by Joana Cordeiro Ferreira on Unsplash This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub we are […]

Take This Garden

Take this gardenand inhale its fragrancespilling in the dark. Take this dawnbefore the sunriseand the singing of the lark. Take this honeysuckleclimbing the cherry treeand frothing down its bark. Take this sunriseand embrace the morning staras it travels in its arc. Kim M. Russell. 20th September 2023 It’s Wednesday and time to ‘Take This Poem’ […]

Cobwebs

Dewdrops stud the spiders’ threadsthat span the fence posts and the gate.Blowing in the autumn breeze, cobwebsdangle between trees, a trap for fallingleaves. Berries stud the spiders’ threadsthat hang from hedge and rowan tree,and woodland creatures make their beds,store nuts and fruit in preparation. Flocksof birds fly in migration, and the redsof leaves and berries […]