After dark months of hard-as-iron winter, cold and long, the first month of spring has been bereft of birdsong. Still, the vernal magic wand is quietly greening, scattered with white stars of snowdrops, yellow daffodils and golden coronas of celandine, conjuring constellations of sunshine. Kim M. Russell, 23rd March 2020 My response to dVerse Poets […]
Mothering Sunday
I left the laptop, just for a minute or two, to let the cats out and make the first cup of tea of this morning. I looked out at the sunshine, perky daffodils and drooping snowdrops gathered at the end of the garden, smiled to myself, and then, from the laptop’s scrolling photo display, a […]
Duck – a poem in Visual Verse
The image Visual Verse selected for the March 2020 issue, Vol. 7, Chapter 5, was an unusual one. At first I didn’t know what to make of the photograph by Ryan McGuire, but I managed to write something in the given hour and word limit before going off-line to visit my daughter and grandson. Once […]
Something to look forward to in April
Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Play It Again! in APRIL 2020 I’m looking forward to this!
What happened to the snow?
What happened to winter snow, hoary patterns on windows, frozen ponds to skate on, icicles hanging from the gutter? Sun worshippers may think it doesn’t matter and wonder why we mutter at unseasonal weather, unconcerned that snowdrops and daffodils bloom early, blackthorn roots are purply and willow tops froth with yellowy green. Is it the […]
Sea Howl
While walking with my dog along the beach, I found a seashell different from the rest, a torrent of waves filled with Neptune’s speech. Spellbound, I contemplated every word enunciated on the ocean’s breath – a poem or the cry of a seabird? Savouring it like salt upon my tongue, the foam like fishy kisses […]
Surprised by Love
Unlike most of her friends and acquaintances, her teenage years and early twenties were not so much sweet with romance but bitter with break-ups and dour with disappointment. “I don’t know why I was surprised every time love started or ended,” she told her therapist, “I never chose the unlikely men I ended up with, […]
The One Who Does Not Go Straight Home
I am the hare who does not go straight home. I relish the cool dew on my whiskers, the wind in ears and scut. Dawn steals past the farmer’s gate and I follow in its honeyed wake, zig-zagging fields, up and down hills, among the yellow daffodils, too full of giddiness to go straight home […]
Karumi Chrysanthemum
white chrysanthemum I look holding it straight no dust at all Basho no bee has penetrated this light-filled orb of petals Kim M. Russell, 5th Match 2020 My response to Carpe Diem Tan […]
Antibacterial
On a cold blue morning, she will sit on a crowded rattling train, antibacterial gel in her pocket, avoiding other people’s faces, sneezes, coughs and stares. She might fidget on her seat, watch the burgeoning greenery, the fresh flashes of fields and trees as she hurtles towards the city: crowds of strangers, with their mouths […]
writing in north norfolk 