Dance of Joy

Beethoven shoutedhis incomprehensible joy,a wind that daredthe whole worldto dance helter-skelter,glitter on the river,to dance as melody,irresistible harmony,a symphonyto nature’s inhuman splendour:the gust,the tide,the breaking vinein the figure of a dance. Kim M. Russell. 7th January 2021 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #51: Looking Back and Writing Forward, also linked to […]

This Isle of Noises

The corona virus has all but silencedthis isle of noises,masks have muffled our voices,damp squibs at the festival of light. Unmasked revellers light bangers and screamers,sparks of hope for dreamers,while Caliban sobs in a cornerover glasses drained of wine. Kim M. Russell, 28th December 2020 My response to earthweal weekly challenge: A Feast of Earth […]

Year’s End

The initial blast of snow that would only last an hour or so – was it a figment of the fearful mind or a tentative reminder of the rapid passing of Time? I imagine the Old Man sifting moments at his desk; the book of life opens itself and he sets about drafting the rest […]

This Is No Swan Song

Down in my bones, I feel that this yearhas not been our swan song.Though the waves came higher,and broken reeds were flungacross an uneven path,we were dazzled by sun-flecked tides.With the coming of winter,something else haunts the landscape:a swan drenched in mud-scent,alive with the tang of the river. Kim M. Russell, 16th December 2020 My […]

Sugar Daddy Revisited

Daddy,you have eaten all the sugar,left me hungry and bleeding,a blistered foot without a shoe;you know I must killand sculpture youas a marble statue,bastard, you. Thou wast my universe, my cosmic mistress;if I had known thy crazed intentto render me in alabaster, a lifelesslump of death,I should have beggedfor one last breath. His breathless body […]

A Change of Mind About Sharks

After years of needless fearof creatures I will never face,I’ve had a change of mindabout sharks being dangerous,blood-crazed and murderous. Last night, I watched a programmeabout the wonders of the deep,and marvelled at the pyjama shark,a stripy type of cat-shark (you know how I love cats). It lives on the bottom of the ocean,among kelp […]

From Air to Earth (and different kinds of black)

Tongues of white misttangle with trees and bitter-sweet scent of leaf-rust tumbling into the obscurityof tantalising humus,from Titian hues to Vantablack, to outer space and back. Kim M. Russell, 9th December 2020 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #49: A B C D E F G … After focusing on words recently, […]

Awakened by the Thaw

‘To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night’ (Gilbran) A heart stony with winter’s chill,and starved from arteries frozen still,needs gradual and gentle thawthat penetrates the very core.When temperatures start to climbafter months of deepest wintertime,shaking itself with a timid shiver,the heart becomes a singing river. Kim M. […]