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 […]
Category: Poems
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 […]
Delicious on my Tongue
you cooked me a meal so delicious I barely stopped between mouthfuls the richness of its flavour imprinted on my tongue oblivious to the knowledge that it wouldn’t last for long I wiped my lips on a napkin wishing for another taste ignoring the red wine in my glass in case the piquancy went to […]
Tribute to the Magpie’s Tail
Among the high branches of the silver birch struts a handsome magpie, jet black on creamy white, not still and quiet like the pigeon on the branch next door, but constantly chattering and fidgeting, see-sawing its tail to keep balance. It’s a fine, long tail, a stick of charcoal scribbling in the grey February sky. […]
Tulip Fields
I am a Middle Eastern beauty, a migrant of the sixteenth century, a gauzy turban of petalled secrets. Some prefer me dressed in scarlet, sprung from droplets of blood, a ruby flood of perfect love. My yellow flower’s glow is cheerful, the power of my white’s forgiveness, while my purple robe is royal. My orb-shaped […]
Wriggle and Squirm
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 […]
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 […]
