She savours the salty iron tangof liquid frothing from a newly-punctured vein,revels in claret tributaries flowing,returning again and again.It caresses her vampire lips,down her throat it slips,spooking addicts in the graveyard gloomand lovers entwined by her tomb. Kim M. Russell, 16th September 2024 Image of Geraldine Dvorak, bride of Dracula, from the 1931 film Dracula […]
Category: Quadrilles
Bending Towards Autumn
The cool breathof autumn rises from earlymornings laced with dew, the golden dustiness of pearlyharvest light, the heady perfumeof marjoram and wild basil, and the clouds of bluebutterflies that bend the headsof nodding harebells before they fly away. Kim M. Russell, 19th August 2024 Free image found on Pixabay This Monday at the dVerse Poets […]
Cosmic Jam
As a child, she’d capture in jarsladybirds, beetles and caterpillars,any interesting bugs – they always expired. She swooned at the full moon and swirls of stars,and tried to catch the cosmos in her empty jars.Now her cosmic jam’s most desired. Kim M. Russell, 5th August 2024 Free image found on Pixabay It’s the first Monday […]
A Very British Summer
It arrives with the sparkle and sweetnessof lemonade, echoes of cricketon the green, and scents of mown grassand public swimming pool. Butbehind the summer shimmerthere’s a threatening glimmerof thunderstorms and torrential rainto send us back indoors again. Kim M. Russell, 22nd July 2024 Image by Urban Vintage on Unsplash This Monday, De is hosting the […]
Dogwood (a quadrille)
A summer blizzard cloudof feathers from a pillow fight,understated blossom clustersshimmering in sunlight hidehard timber once carved intothe cross on which Christ was crucified.Until its grey bark bursts into red,dogwood crouches in hedges,creeps around woodland edges. Kim M. Russell, 16th July 2024 Alma Thomas, Arboretum Presents White Dogwood, (1972), acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum […]
In My Grief A Crab
Grief is a tangled mess,a knot of ghosts and memories,its sting is in life’s unevents:a hermit crab without a shellmoving in to plastic and metaltrash; a honey bee poisoned by pesticide;a wildflower wilting in heat by a roadside. Kim M. Russell, 8th July 2024 Image by Mark Harpur on Unsplash It’s the second Monday in […]
Under the Bed
Darkness is the murkwhere monsters lurk,the black gulp of skyin the depths of night,when no stars glistenand no moon listens.It’s the silent smotherunder the coverwhen you get it in your headthat something’s under the bed. Kim M. Russell, 27th May 2024 Image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash This Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub […]
Leap
I leap into cool water, letting the ripples calmmy skin, soothe my limbs as they carveits viscosity with their fluidity into curvedwaves, splashes and droplets that flyinto sunlit air. I ama diver, a swimmer,a mermaid: seemy fishy tail! Kim M. Russell, 20th May 2024 Image by Bruce Christianson on Unsplash For the Garden of Neuro […]
One by One
Dandelion clocks are a tease,a generation scattered on the breezelanding one by one, each seed a moment,like fairy parachutes. They’re potentin their propagation: thesetiny embryos take root, silentNinjas turning fields and leasyellow, to the joy of bees. Kim M. Russell, 19th May 2024 Image by Saad Chaudhry on Unsplash A quadrille for the Garden of […]
Still Beautiful
In frosted lightof a moon-horned night,this place is beautiful.With each new sunrise,in field and woodland,marsh, moor and farmland,it’s beautiful. But wherever humans treadthey leave a wastedtrail of destruction – and this blue planetis still beautiful. Kim M. Russell, 13th May 2024 It’s Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, that “magical twice-monthly time when we […]