Sometimes, when the sun has gone to bed, a can of words opens in my head, too tired to stop them wriggling across my brain, they leave slime and detritus, worry and pain, a blot on the landscape of my weary creativity. I carry them with me up the creaky stairs and, as soon as […]
Category: Poems
Moon-marked
She was untouched by the sun, skin pale as the moon, heart marked with lunar craters, one for each lover in her life. She has danced dark rhythms, kissed many shades of skin and lips, felt the resonance of untameable blues pulse in veins and hips, but she will never know the misery of a […]
Sand in our Shoes
A walk on a beach reminds me of those first days, walking hand in hand, laughing at the wind and waves, the dog off its lead, running from waves, fetching stones. We braved all weather, cherishing time together, because life is short, we couldn’t believe our luck, or that it would last. And here we […]
Al Fresco
Laughter and tears together Overhead the stars collide Vernal moon waxes silver Earthy marriage bed Kim M. Russell, 10th February 2020 My response to Carpe Diem #1808 LOVE acrostic challenge The theme this month ‘love’ and today the challenge is to create an acrostic dodoitsu, a four-line Japanese poetry form in which the first letter […]
Black Tulips
Glossy goblets in the florist’s shop, rare tulips, brimming with power and strength, constrained like Rilke’s panther, stained with the ink of witching hours. Oh, for a pot of midnight flowers, scented with soil, not a bouquet of beauties with stems cut and wilting in their pain, but petals of black velvet that bloom again […]
It’s Raining
On my win- dow-pane there are drops of rain again. One cat came in soaked, the other has been chasing dribbles, and the washing will have to wait until tomorrow – unless it’s raining again. Kim M. Russell, 2nd February 2020 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Writers’ Pantry #5: A Tiny Light at […]
Golden Hour
Winter sun slants low, cold but golden. Shadows overflow field edges, ditches and hedges, while dusty light glows in the windows of the ancient church and on the walls of the old barn, amber as the eyes of an owl. Kim M. Russell, 30th January 2020 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Meeting the Bar: […]
This Dream
This dream is a moon-faced owl shining brightly in a silver tree, its amber orbs cups of honey that drip sweetly in a sleeper’s eye. This dream is a rasping call that echoes through windy branches, the spiky tip of a nightmare’s tail brushing against a windowpane illuminated with star-fall – before it flicks and […]
Only a Rehearsal
This week I’ve been training. All I’ve had to do is sit and watch for birds. Mostly it was raining; feathered creatures sat in the hedge and observed me through raindrops watching them through raindrops that plopped and spat on the windows. A pair of robins and some finches ganged up with a thrush and […]
View from Sea to Shore
The coastline is a rugged spine of cliff, rocky ribs rise and fall with each breath of wind and wave that shift the distant skiff. Its feet are firm and solid in the depths of tides that loosen roots and bits of stones like rotten teeth; they tumble to the beach with salty water sucking […]
writing in north norfolk 