There is much to be said for the comfort of a cushion:the familiar pressure in the small of your back;an extra hug from your favourite chair;a lap on which to rest your feet;a safe place for a book you’ve just finished reading.My favourite cushion has the face of a catwith flowers on her head, a […]
Category: Poems
Marvellous
A menagerie of starsrampages acrossthe night sky;here, in the darknesswe marvel at a sparkleof fireflies. Kim M. Russell, 1st July 2026
A Poet’s Survival
Now the intensity of summer heathas come to a temporary halt,I indulge in the rush of cooler air,thankful I no longer have to work,stuck in an airless box. Education of other people’s childrenis now no concern of mine, an elderly poet. I imagine a time when I dug deepinto my heart, sick with stress and […]
A Candleworth of Love
There was a magical time whenyour mother would carry youon her hip all day. You weredemanding of her love, smallbut large as life, full of life, with yourfairy eyes and curly hair, chin cuppedin your hands. She tickled your palms,walking round the garden like a teddy bear, eachevening before bathtime. She heldyou close when she […]
My Ghosts
They have been with me since childhood,piquant little ghosts that haunt me. Their white bones long for words,the flesh of their existence. I call out to them in the dead of nightand, in a moonbeam of ecstasy, words appear, freshly-baked poemsrouse me, their mille-feuille pastry crumbling at the ferocity of my pen, a sweetnessthat may […]
From Earth to Sky
Here we are, planted,our feet firmly in the earthtogether with trees and shrubs and flowers and wheat and barley, just as green as shoots,as tethered as roots, untilplucked by unseen hands. In the meantime, look –a long-necked swan overhead,untethered, flying feathered and free and light and wind-borne following instinct,a seasoned flier, untilplucked by unseen hands. […]
Silver
A shimmer of silver poemslights up the map of my heart. I hope they are not tarnishedas they cartwheel and dart across the page, turningfrom platinum to sterling, to a gentle silver mist, thenshadowing in battleship grey until blackened silver letters playand meander into words, form lines, rhymes, stanzas, odes,leading us down lanes and roads, […]
Counting to Eleven
As children we learn to count to number ten,slowly at first and then racing on ahead. Soon we are counting, in twos and back again,sheep in the darkness when we have gone to bed.We count the days until school is out and thendays until freedom of summer has ended.But we never stop at number eleven,an odd […]
rosary of words
i use words like beads to tellthe stories that haunt methey are strung on shadows of whati know is poetry and the gist of it while you sit and planeach word and line toan accurate death that’s what you dokilling your words with the sharpness of your newspaper prose while I am […]
Something Blue
like the small patch of skypeeking through a crack in the clouds or the twinkle in a lover’s eyethat you can pick out in any crowd. Blue like a host of forget-me-nots,a surprise among nettles and long grass. The blue that ties your tongue in knotswhen you remember something from the past. Something small like […]
writing in north norfolk 