I am the cat who walks by herself, proudly practising social distancing from others. I purr at the spring sun stroking my fur, while my human peers from a prison of windowpanes, longing for a friendly hug, a shared coffee and conversation. In the meantime, we’ve had to ration cat food until the next delivery. […]
Category: Poems
A poem to sum up my feelings in this post.
Space Origami
earth is still distorted by pollution like a piece of paper folded into an origami globe, its faces and edges blurred with rubbing here in an ever-shrinking space, it’s hard to remember how primroses and daffodils turn their faces to April sunshine air and water are clearer now, canals and rivers abound with fish and […]
Tender Buttons: Fern
A potted fern rusts in the corner. Why is it trapped in porcelain? An alveolus from the lungs of a forest, a socket for the wind’s teeth. the fern in the pot sucks and nibbles at the room’s stale air, exhaling just enough oxygen to stir the net curtain. Kim M. Russell, 4th April 2020 […]
Life Goes On
This strangely cocooned life is dominated by reflections. Just months ago, we still had visions. All we see now is on a TV screen and framed by windowpanes. Without us, life goes on. Clouds drift, a bird flies by, a flower blooms while we reflect in our shrinking rooms. Will the cloud, the bird, the […]
Writing on the Wall
I suppose you think I do this all the time, the rest of the graffiti really isn’t mine. The corona virus has me out of my mind bored, and the best thing I could find on my way out for my daily walk was this stubby piece of chalk. I considered hopscotch but there’s no […]
April is a Fool
April’s entrances are never the same, peek-a-boo is her favourite game. Some years she has played the fool and surprised us with snow, or she’s been cruel, raised our hopes with a taste of sunshine, and then showered us with torrential rain. This year, March pre-empted her, keeping us inside our homes while April was […]
Little Toy Engine
A little toy engine sits on my shelf, It isn’t mine. I didn’t buy it for myself, It was part of a birthday present for a special boy, a battery-run, magnetic, self-propelling toy that was meant to pull its wagons round a track. It didn’t work and I had to bring it back. A replacement […]
Lips
I was never one for painting my lips red, although I sometimes fantasised in bed about a scarlet slash against white teeth tempting you to meld our lips and breath, a colourful seduction in a bed gone quiet. But then I realised that instead of a riot of thrashing limbs and pounding chests we both […]
Personal Hero
The only flesh and blood I see each night and morning, who I can still embrace and kiss his funny fuzzy face, leaves the house early each day. He’s not what you’d call a life saver, he’s not on the front line, but his contributions are real, helping the country stay warm, boil kettles and […]
Not Quite Empty City
Once, the constant backing track of traffic and city noise drummed in an ever-present hum. Streetlight haloes fixed glimpses of homebound faces as they passed, in shop windows and bus-stop glass. Now, there is no more morning haul or night-time crawl of onomatopoeic pedestrians and their quirky, jerky stop-and-go. Below deserted bridges, the river laps […]
writing in north norfolk 