Every tree is a miracle: the ancient birch with vector branches, silver bark and overgrown elephantine trunk; the curly willow, recently pollarded, younger and more strident; the quince, plum, apple and cherry; the prickly holly, the tree that heralds thunderstorms. In an arrangement of fairy stairwells, sulphur mushrooms rise from networks below the soil, blending […]
Category: Poems
Tiny Promises
they dance on sunlight inhabiting air luminescent in another dimension blossoming hedges hum with pollen- dusted bees zipping in and out of f l e o r w s carrying honeyed promises Kim M. Russell, 12th April 2022 On the twelfth day of NaPoWrimo, the challenge is the opposite of yesterday’s: to invert our inspiration […]
Elephant Bell
It begins to swell, the hollow brassy knell a ponderous tune in the forest gloom. An elephant bull strives in limited room: first his shoulder lifts, and the bell rumbles; then his body shifts and the bell tumbles around his neck, an extra burden, a distraction the bull can never quell. Kim M. Russell, 11th […]
Azure
You took me for a drive and we pointed out the places where something added colour and texture to our life. And here we are, growing older by a river, surrounded by trees and wildlife; only yesterday, you pointed out a heron flying by. This morning, the sun is shining; I can see wood pigeons […]
A Fresh View
after the drumming of last night’s stormthis morning’s view from the windowis silvered with rain, colourshave faded – no rainbowjust gossamer threadson leaf and boughglisteningcrystalsfresh Kim M. Russell, 9th April 2022 On NaPoWriMo Day 9, I am delighted that my poem is featured as daily participant with my “breezy interpretation of Day Eight’s alter-ego prompt”. […]
Words in the Wind
I am the woman of the wind,mistress to the Aeolian king,sometimes just a sighing breeze,a Zephyr tantalising trees,or a warm-breathed siroccofresh in from Morocco,and sometimes a gale,with a strident wail,I wuther over moors and Isquabble in the sky. My vocal range is wideto suit all weather,to dissipate cloudsor gather them together. Kim M. Russell, 8th […]
Birds-Eye
Why should a journeyof a thousand miles beginwith a single step,when all I want to do is land? Why can’t I rise like a lark,swoop like an owl in the dark,or skitter like a turnstoneamong limpets and cuttlebone,dashing up and down the shoreand taking off in salt-washed air? I don’t want to use my feeton […]
Arboreal
Look for a well-endowed oak; leafless oaks feign death. Collect as many beautiful leaves as you can find. They will be your pages. Look out for a great spotted woodpecker, cocking his red-capped head and hammering the bark. That is your meter. Hug your tree. Like humans, trees find safety in numbers, and they flourish […]
Illatebrating
Hidden in a corner filled with the the dusty smell of old books and lingering yawns the weight of paper, I am nonplussed at the heaviness of words on paper held down by a paperweight and, when I fold them into corners, they gain in weight, treasures in my ink-stained hands while I illatebrate. How […]
Another poem published on Spillwords
I’m delighted to have another poem on Spillwords today.
writing in north norfolk 