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 […]
Category: Poems
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 […]
What She Told Her
She always knew the little dark-haired, brown-eyed child was her mother’s secret. She’d kept the outings in a stranger’s car, ice creams at the airport and seaside trips close to her chest, being only five or six, and loving mystery. When the baby arrived, nobody said a word. There were whispers behind closed doors. The […]
A Welcome Pause after December Rain
At the window, I watch a sparrow strip berries from the hedgerow. The magpie has ceased its chatter, contemplating things that matter before giving its opinions on the day. And now the sparrow has flown away. Except for a cat that gently purrs, I sit here at my desk alone, my fingers chilled to the […]
Queen of Winter
Cailleach, the Celtic winter queen, atop the Cliffs of Moher, her domain the time from Samhainn to Bealltainn, strikes the ground with her frosty staff, freezing the tops of hill and mountain. From her creel drop curious stones carved with magic, the ancient bones of her husbands and her many children, promises of fertile field […]
Wonderful Alien
Wide-eyed and full of wonder, you hold my hand and guide me through your world. I can only blunder, an ancient alien who has lived here too long to appreciate a single leaf, a muddy pebble or the sun on water. Now I have your eyes to discover the beautiful among the fearful, forget for […]
