The solitary universe of a poet can be blinkered by introspection. We follow a narrow route from desk – to fridge – to bath- room; it’s the poet’s fertile imagination that wanders a path between bluebells and wood anemones. In our current virus-infected situation we gather in a virtual world to share maps of secret […]
The Silliness of Cherry Blossom
Let’s take a moment to consider the seriousness of apple blossom, its fragrance and its durability. compared to ephemeral and silly blossoms of the flirty cherry, flashing her delicate pink frilly blooms and dropping them like spring wedding confetti from a fruitless ornamental tree. Kim M. Russell, 4th May 2020 My response to dVerse Poets […]
Free Breathing
Earth is an ornate looking glass, Inviting us to reflect honestly on the past, when fields were green, forests of ancient trees breathed freely, and we lived, loved and laughed. She wants us to remove our masks and see ourselves and Earth as we are meant to be. Kim M. Russell, 3rd May 2020 My […]
The Willow Tree Goblin
Long ago, a goblin lived beneath a willow, where daylight was green, and leaves rustled in the breeze. His name was Willow – Will for short. He was friends with a magpie that landed on the topmost branch each day to share gossip. One day, as Will watched a robin build a nest, the tree […]
Is it really…
the end, not just the prelude to the death of April, but the final word, the last amen? Tomorrow Is a fresh sheet of paper for another poem, a breezy tune for a new song, the first breath of the first day of the rest of your life, to do with what you want. I’ll […]
Almost (a love story)
almost burned her fingers as she watched a flame consume a match almost to its end almost cried at the pain that didn’t come but the tears were welcome anyway almost fell in love with the man who struck the match that lit her (almost) last cigarette almost kissed him on the lips before the […]
Florence
She is surrounded by patchwork fields as vivid as an artist’s impression: here and there a stone church or umber farmhouse scattered across her apron stained with hues of olive, grape, tomato, and scented with rosemary, basil, oregano, zesty lemons and aromatic espresso. She stretches her limbs along the Arno, terracotta roofs reflecting heat and […]
Mind Map of a Forgotten Coast
Our coastal skin shrank as knowledge grew; why have we forgotten paths and dunes devoured by an increasingly hungry sea? Never sated, the leviathan lingers on the shore until its rumbling belly sends it back for more. Ancient rock has turned to crumbling cliffs and sand. There are no maps to fathom what lies beneath, […]
Reading is No Sin
I’ve never heard a mockingbird, a New World multilingual, and I’ve never seen one fly. But I have climbed inside numberless books, read numberless words, breathed numberless characters’ lives, walked around in their skin and thought their thoughts. Characters are the only kind of folk I ever felt comfortable with, willingly lent my reader’s ear, […]
Shakespeare First
I have always loved Will’s work from the moment I was introduced to his plays at school, and I remember falling in love with the sonnets as if it was only yesterday. The first poems I wrote as a teenager were sonnets and I still fall into the form when I least expect it. The […]
writing in north norfolk 