She stood weeping at the cross- roads, a delicate English rose, torn by the thorns of a troubled life, seeking balm in the bubble of a fragrant garden and the answer to the age-old dilemma, the decision we all have to make: which path should I take? Kim M. Russell, 1st February 2019 My response […]
Category: Poems
Like Marilyn
In those old photographs, I see a teenager, pale and lacking confidence, happy to allow mother or sister-in-law to take over for a while, united in womanhood, your blonde hair curled around your face, like Marilyn’s. I arrived too soon. The sparkle of the glamorous life you hoped for faded into monochrome. You grew up […]
Woken by Birdsong
This morning I was woken by the sound of birdsong, a faint and distant tiny tin whistle of a song, as I lay in the cosy comfort of my warm bed and contemplated getting up and whistling along. Pulling a woolly sweater over my tousled head, I stepped outside, where a two-toned light began to […]
Unfettered
Snowdrops bring (de) light to the darkest, coldest months of winter: one day, tentatively poking green heads through hard soil; the next, trickling into a snowdrift of white flowers, gentle harbingers of unfettered reproduction and the joyous riot of spring. Kim M. Russell, 29th January 2019 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Harbinger, also […]
Heart and Other Beats
With the sarcastic percussion of fingers on the table top, my heart used to skip a beat. I longed for the comforting generosity of chimes in a summer garden instead of the irascible crash of cymbals, a teenage girl flouncing out the door; I don’t hear that any more. Kim M. Russell, 26th January 2019 […]
Tumbledown Shed
Weighted with ivy, tessellated with lichen and moss, the roof has splintered and caved in. Perhaps something has settled among the long-forgotten tools and pots – now homes for mice and spiders. Our sentinel by the rickety gate sheds flakes of peeling paint. The padlock key is long gone and its treasures remain hidden. Kim […]
Falling
It’s falling – snow, white and bitter, blows in on biting winds perfumed with winter. Thickening flakes paint a pointillist monochrome landscape, a gift for the optimist, sled ready, hoping for a white-out, while a crowd of children starts a snowball fight. By late afternoon, everything’s silent and grey, even the snowmen have nothing to […]
Shedding Skin
The first time I shed skin, my tongue probed the blade of a new language, tasted unfamiliar vowels and consonants, bled new words and poems. The second time I shed skin, the words were mine but the tune was new, lilting and green. The last time I shed skin, the landscape taught me everything I […]
A Frosty Night
On this frosty night, stars blow themselves to smither- eens and fall like feathers. Silvery hisses and splutters of white noise in my ears rush like the ocean on shingle, a symphony of moonlight, on this frosty night. Kim M. Russell, 19th January 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Weekend Mini-Challenge: Mustn’t […]
Halo of Imagination
How incandescent is graffiti of the mind! On naked brick a celestial trick, a light show of imagination in deepest winter’s meditation. Kim M. Russell, 19th January 2019 My response to Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo Thursday photo prompt: Imagination #writephoto
writing in north norfolk 