Free to flow in fountains, wells and streams, I was not one to flaunt my naiad beauty, and was bound to Peneus by daughterly duty. I loved to swim and dive, I felt alive in water, still or flowing, crystal clear as my virginity, innocent to the onslaught of male potency. But gods are gods […]
Category: Poems
Unravelled
April has unravelled like a favourite old cardigan. The sound of distant traffic died weeks ago, and the empty town has lost its orange glow. We can see all the stars now, scattered like salt across the night sky. When did we take our eyes off heaven? Is this white noise a wish come true? […]
The Beckoning
Along the fields and lanes, sloe and blackthorn hedges are humming with bees. Beneath the trees and along the edges, bluebells cast a heady scent into a wistful April breeze that teases the branches of overdressed trees, spilling pollen, a sugary omen of fruitfulness. In morning’s flickering light and shadow, crocuses beckon with purple and […]
Smiling Through Tears
How many stations are left on this journey? How can we ever know? We smile at each other with tears in our eyes, how do we stem the flow? Don’t worry about how long it takes, relax and enjoy the view. Keep smiling through tears, just let them go and I’ll wipe them away for […]
Only Our Last Conversation Remains
Years mutate virus-like in their determination and, before we know it, only our last conversation remains, hanging in the air like a note from a bass guitar that we know must end. We each had our perspectives, memories and photographs the only proof of friendship, all that’s left of us, my friend. That’s why I […]
Unblurring the View
Days blur into each other. The view from the window seems to stay the same: green leaves pattern blue sky, occasionally a cloud drifts or a helicopter murmurs by, a tractor trundles down a lane, sometime later it returns again. A knock at the door relieves the mundane Monday repetition, a gloved delivery with distance […]
A Place to Catch my Breath
Before the virus, when the world was busy, I fantasised about a secret folly in a corner of the garden hidden by trees, a place where I could catch my breath and let my imagination run free. I envisaged gargoyles on the corners of the roof to ward off unwelcome visitors, and an ornate lantern […]
A World of Order
I like lists and ticking off items when complete, the regularity of paving stones beneath my feet, avoiding cracks and walking firmly in the squares, so as not to be eaten by predatory bears. I like to peg laundry neatly on a washing line, different coloured pegs for your clothes and mine. I like arranging […]
Batty
Against the fading sunset light, small phantoms of the night circle and dip, bat-blind to the predicament of humankind. They are still free to gather and fly, flickering shadows in the sky, while we hunker in isolation, watching the planet’s devastation. Kim M. Russell, 14th April 2020 My response to earthweal weekly challenge: Connecting […]
Cloak of Invisibility
When the clock strikes midnight, will she vanish out of sight, a squashed pumpkin, a shattered glass slipper, a homeless, friendless Cinderella? Cloaked in the nightclub’s anonymity, dancing in the dark, caressed by strobe lights, she relished her invisibility, touched someone else’s damp skin, caught a glimpse of other people’s lives. But outside, on the […]
writing in north norfolk 