with eyelids closed I sketch her face perfectly only in dreams Kim M. Russell, 19th November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1783 a bell resounds: Shiki’s shasei In a new episode of ‘Never Change A Winning Team’, our inspiration for a new haiku comes from Masaoka Shiki, one of the ‘big-five’ haiku poets. Both […]
Cracking the Egg
Inside the ovoid of her brain, only white noise can invade. She is an embryo, curled in pain, hiding in the albumen’s shade, until the pulsating membrane explodes and the fragile shell cracks. Now she is a blob of yellow yolk – agoraphobia’s cruel joke. Kim M. Russell, 18th November 2019 My response to dVerse […]
Freestyling Jane
apple blossoms left by a neighbour doorstep gift apricots on her upper lip traces of juice damp earth freeing their fragrance storm-tossed asters shapeless bracken and bird’s wing lost to the cold nature’s gifts fruit and blossoms circle of life Kim M. Russell, 18th November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1782 freestyling haiku: Devouring […]
Cinnamon (for Adelheid)
Different café, another time, a seat by a steamy window, hot chocolate with cinnamon, and I’m sitting opposite her, the last time we met, before I left and we never saw each other again. I was naïve, excited, eager to explore, and she was so much older, teacher and mentor. She encouraged me to fly, […]
Colourful Autumn
trodden underfoot jewel-hued leaves have faded berries stole their crown Kim M. Russell, 15th November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1781 The Quest for A New Masterpiece Continues: Colourful Autumn This month’s theme, ‘Never Change A Winning Team’, focuses on haiku and today our challenge you to create new haiku masterpieces about ‘Colourful Autumn’.
Revised Old Pond
same old pond behind yellow roses the splash of a frog Kim M. Russell, 14th November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1780 The Old Pond by Basho Today we have a ‘Revise That Haiku’ challenge, in which we have been given one of the best-known haiku by Matsuo Basho, as well as the story […]
Gentle Winter Reminder
Snow has been falling for half an hour and already the garden is covered with white. Slumped by the log store, only the tip of an old sack is visible as I approach, feet firmly in my wellies, one sock creeping down to my toes. The logs are frozen to the touch, landing in the […]
White Crane Tan Renga
how I wish to call a white crane from Fukei, but for this cold rain Kikaku desolate drips from the roof instead of soothing wingbeats Kim M. Russell, 13th November 2019 My response to Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (5) White Crane In today’s new episode of ‘Carpe Diem’s Tan Renga Wednesday’, we have a […]
Star Birth
How much gas does a mother need? Forget the air – there’s none in space. Energy and gravity played their part, pulling together at the heart of the conception, a passionate ménage à trois. A single push excruciatingly long, squeezing an interstellar nebula into a brand-new star, a twinkle in its mother’s eye, a cosmic […]
New Graffiti
Our world is alive with public declarations, territorial admonitions and artistic explorations, scribbled, scratched, stencilled and daubed, bombed and tagged on toilet walls, buildings, trains, bridges and the underground. Simple words chipped on ancient tombs, elaborate murals sprayed with paint, angry political cartoons drawn with marker, some in monochrome, others fluorescent, we leave semi-anonymous traces […]
writing in north norfolk 