A flash of amber eyes in the twilight of the woods is answered with a growl from my own throat. I don’t claim to be a good mother, but I can howl and have a fierce heart, red as a hood. I gather them in the heat of my lupine love again, child and grandchild […]
Monochrome
Beneath the frost of November moon they murmur musky mist around the bone of tree-like antlers, a message of timeless continuity, melodic but wordless like the music of rain and flowing streams, or stars and comets rejoicing in their beams. Russet and lemon-yellow leaves no longer rustle but drift and rot, muting Earth the singer […]
A Field of Dried Grass
a field of dried grass orchestra of grasshoppers sending me to sleep Kim M. Russell, 1st November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1773 Kick Off: A Field of Dried Grass (Basho) White rabbits! Pinch, punch, first day of the month! In the first episode of November, Carpe Diem’s new theme is ‘Never Change A […]
Cyborg Skin revisited
From the egg-like membrane of her head to the crescent-mooned toes on her feet, her skin was yielding and not synthetic; soft and warm, it responded to my touch. She was programmed to be forever childlike but she possessed an adult logic, a precociousness lacking innocence, as if she knew my every thought; a hint […]
Beauty Beyond the Grave
The shadow of laudanum no longer stained her skin, in life and death her beauty spilled luminous, and green-blue eyes belied disease that once coiled within. Her glorious red hair had grown beyond eternal sleep, entangled in it, Rossetti’s book of poetry, penetrated by a single worm where damp and mould had seeped. Seven long […]
April in the Woods
between budding trees awash with lukewarm sunshine a wave of bluebells Kim M. Russell, 31st October 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1772 Virginia Blue Bell In the last episode of Carpe Diem’s festive 7th birthday month, we have a beautiful small flower: the bluebell. I’m not sure whether mine is a haiku or a […]
Crystal Brook
crystal brook reflects the willow trees birds sing their song Yozakura a farewell to fallen leaves sacrificed to the river Kim M. Russell, 30th October 2019 My response […]
Your Voice
I have heard songbirds’ over- lapping whistles, the whisper of sparrow wings wheeling on the breeze, raindrops bouncing off dusty autumn paths, and the rattling somersaults of the last leaves from trees. I’ve listened to the sun sizzle into evening, bats flicker in cooling twilight air, snowflakes kissing a frozen window- pane, a cat purring […]
Fireflies
longing for the grass at the bottom of the pool those fireflies Buson longing for the grass chlorophyll and oxygen luminous bubbles at the bottom of the pool hidden secret world shadows and light those fireflies hovering deliciously surreptitious frog Kim M. Russell, 29th October 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1771 Troiku Challenge: Firefly […]
Anticipating Hallows Eve
Living between sea and waterways, I love this time of year. Schools have celebrated harvest, clocks have gone back, and nights are drawing in with frost and spooky tales. Along the coast and above the marshlands, the sky is haunted, filled with the cries of wintering birds. In the woods, frills of fungus cling to […]
writing in north norfolk 