A List of Things That Make a Perfect Day

Being woken by birdsong is a good start to a perfect day, with sunbeams breaching the slatted blind, falling on my face and tickling my nose, one of the cats patting my face with the velvet pads of a paw. A mug of steaming cranberry and raspberry tea is next, followed by fruit of the […]

The Flocking of Spring

Trees and power lines are punctuated with birds, musically annotating the new season’s words, collecting feathers in all kinds of weather, hollow bones and loquacious song. They’ve carried it all winter long spring’s scent on their wings, essence of the vernal, hope of life eternal. Hope of life eternal, essence of the vernal, spring’s scent […]

Cave

find me a comfy cave, not a damp one, i think,nor a dark one, or one of cold stone.i reject your cynicism, despiseyour privilege, coldness, wealth, all useless in my eyes.i would not choose them. I long to see through holes in rock the distant sky,in my home of precious dryness, precious rockadorned with fresh […]

Impudent Moon

After sunset,when golden lightfades to dusk,the full moon,a voyeuristic eye,stands look-outin the darkening sky,for lovers on an evening walk.The moon knowsthere will be little talk. Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2023 Image found on Pinterest It’s Day 5 of NaPoWriMo and our (optional) prompt begins with reading Charles Simic’s poem ‘The Melon’, which illuminates the […]

Cat Walk

I am the cat who walks by herself,still proudly practisingsocial distancing,a shadow on a garden fence. I purr as the spring sun strokes my fur,luxuriate in long grass,sniff flowers as I pass,camouflaged in bush and tree. My human wrangles with words,so I curl up on her lap,listening to each tap –until I fall asleep, twitching, […]

NaPoWriMo Day 3: Two Opposite Poems

The Light However I dismiss the lightas white concreteor the sun as a still-standing cube,now here’s something to be unconcerned about,absolutely. (Including humans…) Aircraft In the beginning,it was so much morethan the girl’s real biplanebeneath the distant desert,where you ran with me. And we stood upto ignore them departing,their black stumble proudwith achromatic darkness,the early […]

The Hollow Earth

The hollow earth callswith a hollow voice,hollow words thudas they fall into mudand winter-dead bracken. How strange that hollowsshould pierce the earthwith yellow burstsof daffodil, narcissus,celandine and crocus. Kim M. Russell, 1st April 2023 April 1 is here, accompanied by the first day of NaPoWriMo. I’m following the National Poetry Writing Month on Facebook and […]

In Praise of Rosebay Willowherb

Wasteland and railway banksare aflame with rangy ranks of fireweeds. Neon pink spikeslight up ditches and dykes, seducing moths and bees,releasing clouds of fluffy seeds from ostentatious spires,spreading beauty in windborne fires. All the while their creeping rootsand rhizomes advance like troops, leafy shoots invade gardens, giving riseto cerise fireworks exploding in the sky. Kim […]