I have torn holes in life, portals from one self to another, city to city, country to country. I have adapted my nostrils to different scents and smells, my tongue to sweet and sour. I have adjusted my eyes to everchanging landscapes, falling from another sky to land on concrete or grass, sometimes on my […]
Category: Poems
Kindness in the Time of Corona
In these days of pandemic, I no longer rely on friends or the kindness of strangers. I take my daily walk alone, plodded laps around the football pitch, no cheers or claps, while spectral goalposts lean towards each other longing for the raucous fuss and bother of a game. I stop to admire silver petals, […]
Confession
Around the village green, May blossom turns hedges into rich swags of cream, cow parsley frothing at the edges. As I walk (or trudge) alone, birds and daisies cheer me on, panting through the second lap, by the village hall, past empty goalposts, along sidelines vanishing in rampant grass. When someone asks how I keep […]
Seeds of Doubt
Aurora flamed across the golden acre, begging me to dig and till the soil, plant seeds tender and true, until I felt beholden. Persephone had done her magic, sewn the landscape up with flowers, sprinkled rain among the sunshine, birthed earthly, aerial and aquatic and I knew it must be done. Pots of seedlings were […]
Cosmic Email from the Green Knight
In a corona of silence, I turn to rain showers, the headiness of honeysuckle blossoms and blackbird vespers, simple pleasures to distract me from the unease of disease. So many shadows in the garden in which to find the Grail: the green balm of grass, May flower fertility and earthy pheromones filtering the essence of […]
Waiting for the Woodpecker
Down the lane towards the river, branches touch their fingertips together, a leafy tunnel to catch a breeze while I listen for drumrolls from the trees to announce the annual rollercoaster, the reappearance of the spotted woodpecker. It’s already May and I haven’t heard him yet, he must be still selecting the most perfect of […]
Flourishing
Beyond the castle walls the kingdom flourishes,while old Quixote simmers within, no freedomto seek out maidens or threaten windmillswith his lance. Even Sancho, a redundant serf,has given up, his pot belly ever swellingwith undigested food and unspoken proverbs.Inside the castle, the air stagnates with heroes’breath, while outside nature flourishes. Kim M. Russell, 6th May 2020 […]
Beyond the Periphery
The solitary universe of a poet can be blinkered by introspection. We follow a narrow route from desk – to fridge – to bath- room; it’s the poet’s fertile imagination that wanders a path between bluebells and wood anemones. In our current virus-infected situation we gather in a virtual world to share maps of secret […]
Is it really…
the end, not just the prelude to the death of April, but the final word, the last amen? Tomorrow Is a fresh sheet of paper for another poem, a breezy tune for a new song, the first breath of the first day of the rest of your life, to do with what you want. I’ll […]
Almost (a love story)
almost burned her fingers as she watched a flame consume a match almost to its end almost cried at the pain that didn’t come but the tears were welcome anyway almost fell in love with the man who struck the match that lit her (almost) last cigarette almost kissed him on the lips before the […]
writing in north norfolk 