Chilled to their inner ringsthey wait for spring, intimate winter trees, their unadorned birches, bare,skeletal white trunks shining, chilledfrom icy winds and frost-rilled. Under cover of night,there is white noise, rustle of leaves and distant hum of tyre on tarmac.Overhead the sky sparkles, incandescentwith a multitude of stars, distantand countless. Lying on her back, the […]
Puckered
The moon’s puckered upfor a strange kiss; her gut’s a quiet riot of butterflies,full of uncertain promise. Now the rumpus of spring is overand blossom-pink has turned to sad-brown, the moon and I are waitingfor an explosion of summer flowers. Kim M. Russell, 19th May 2025 Today, at the dVerse Poets Pub, I’m hosting the […]
Cupcake
Kim M. Russell, 15th May 2025 We’re meeting the bar with Björn at the dVerse Poets Pub today, and having a bit of fun with the shapes of poems on the page, something I have done before for a number of prompts. He tells us that concrete poetry “emerged from the major hubs of Concrete […]
Desamor
Do you have the aguante, the heart to fully giveto another human being? You sense the friolento, the long-distance future,stretching to the horizon, and become a nagual, a holder of secretsand longing for what is beyond. And the cenzontle, a wise woman,whispers encouragement in your ear: ‘Keep at it’, she says, ‘don’t give up.’But you […]
Kidnapped
I’ve been on this pirate ship, locked in a cabin, for ten days now, and there has been no sign of land, just the ocean as far as the eye can see. It’s a relief to spot a whale or a bird through the porthole, allies to a young girl trapped in a world of […]
Ruins in the Lagoon
You took me past the gondolason the Grand Canal, and acrossthe shimmering lagoon.I’d already fallenfor the sparkling glass of Muranoand the vibrancy of Burano,and then you gave me a little island,the gentle chirp of crickets,ancient ruins, Byzantine mosaicsin the Church of Santa Maria Assunta,and a restaurant among fragrant herbs,where we drank limoncello,soaking up the yellowglow […]
Close Up with O’Keefe
How does a curvilinear,abstract frill wrap around a heart of patina,fungus-like, an organic shell? Observe how the primitive waves crash,preserving the pulsing pigment of Persian-red gouache;how the artist’s blood seeped into the underpainting. Kim M. Russell, 6th May 2025 It’s Tuesday Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub and our host is Melissa, with an ekphrastic […]
A Walk in Spring Woods
The air is heavy with aromatic leafy tanglein the waking woods,where boughs and twigs are sprouting green,pale at first,and richer by the day.Here and there, floral notes pervade,pink clouds of blossomand bluebell carpets colouring up the scene. Kim M. Russell, 5th May 2025 It’s Monday and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, time for that poetic […]
First Bee
A boozy bumblebee flewfrom May blossom drenched with dewand alighted on the ledgenear a blooming hawthorn hedge.After a dour start to spring,flirtatious buds are burstingand daisies dance in the grass. Insects are parched for sweet sipsof perfumed pollen from lipsof wayward woodbine flowerstumbling from bushy bowers.A bevy of bees in Maywill be worth a heap […]
Mother
Until I rampaged into womanhoodand found myself adrift on the sea of life, you were a gorse bush flaming through my childhood,golden, scented with coconut, alive. You were my harbour when I shipwrecked motherhood,a beacon when relationships capsized. You encouraged me to be cautious in my adulthood,and always try to see through another’s eyes. Your […]
writing in north norfolk 