From the window and in the confines of the garden, I watch spring advance. Willow buds and almost-blossoms dance on the breeze, promising abundance yet to come. High above in the heavens are black smudges of distant ravens, harbingers let loose among vernal festivities. Stuck alone within these walls, but blessed with flowers, hedgerows and […]
Category: Poems
A poem to sum up my feelings in this post.
The Clarity of Lunacy
Dark clouds lift and take my soul; daytime solitude, taunted by spring sun and blossoms, fades into clair de lune, madness hugs and kisses the moon, her friendly face the soft pale blue of porcelain glaze. I stand at the window and gaze at a night-blackened empty street, no cars pass, no people strolling by, […]
Silvered
After nearly two weeks within these walls, and even more to follow, with only walks around the garden, how long can claustrophobia be suppressed? I write poetry in pyjamas, no reason to get dressed until I open the back door to spring sunshine, to hang out washing, feed the birds, pace around the willow chanting […]
Mothering Sunday
I left the laptop, just for a minute or two, to let the cats out and make the first cup of tea of this morning. I looked out at the sunshine, perky daffodils and drooping snowdrops gathered at the end of the garden, smiled to myself, and then, from the laptop’s scrolling photo display, a […]
What happened to the snow?
What happened to winter snow, hoary patterns on windows, frozen ponds to skate on, icicles hanging from the gutter? Sun worshippers may think it doesn’t matter and wonder why we mutter at unseasonal weather, unconcerned that snowdrops and daffodils bloom early, blackthorn roots are purply and willow tops froth with yellowy green. Is it the […]
The One Who Does Not Go Straight Home
I am the hare who does not go straight home. I relish the cool dew on my whiskers, the wind in ears and scut. Dawn steals past the farmer’s gate and I follow in its honeyed wake, zig-zagging fields, up and down hills, among the yellow daffodils, too full of giddiness to go straight home […]
Antibacterial
On a cold blue morning, she will sit on a crowded rattling train, antibacterial gel in her pocket, avoiding other people’s faces, sneezes, coughs and stares. She might fidget on her seat, watch the burgeoning greenery, the fresh flashes of fields and trees as she hurtles towards the city: crowds of strangers, with their mouths […]
Apple-ogia
They are our atonement for the half-eaten cores tossed from dusty, finger- smeared train windows, sprouted into hoards of apples, sparkling orbs, railway siding orchards. They’re a feast for birds, burnished rosy and russet, worm-holed and sweetly rotting to the fading drone of wasps drunk on the sadness of sugar. In spring, wind-fresh blossoms flutter […]
Returning
In thick dark clusters, swallows skim the lake, reflections on the water shimmer clear. It seems as if the day will never break; in thick dark clusters, swallows skim the lake. I am returning too, to past mistakes I left behind with sadness, guilt and fear. In thick dark clusters swallows skim the lake; reflections […]
Incision
The sharp blade splits smooth skin, spilling the ruby jewels within and staining fingers with fruity blood. Its sticky flesh holds heavenly food, the luscious seeds small surprises as they crush between white incisors, trickling juice upon the tongue, a crimson, fertile, sour song. Kim M. Russell, 27th February 2020 My response to Poets and […]
writing in north norfolk 