The first time I shed skin, my tongue probed the blade of a new language, tasted unfamiliar vowels and consonants, bled new words and poems. The second time I shed skin, the words were mine but the tune was new, lilting and green. The last time I shed skin, the landscape taught me everything I […]
A Handsome Duck
red-faced and whiskered dipping his beak water-deep handsome Mandarin Kim M. Russell, 21st January 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1589 mandarin ducks (oshidori) Today is a reprise episode of ‘mandarin ducks’, which is a classical kigo for winter. We also have a few haiku with this kigo as examples: furu ike no oshidori ni […]
Delight in Company
by candlelight the profile of her face radiant with smiles Kim M. Russell, 20th January 2019 My response to Carpe Diem #1588 delight in company This month we are exploring classical and modern kigo (seasonwords) for winter and today we have a modern kigo, which has been taken from Jane Reichhold’s Saijiki, A Dictionary of […]
A Certain Calm
a certain calm in summer’s passing flowers a faded dew-soaked daisy […]
A Frosty Night
On this frosty night, stars blow themselves to smither- eens and fall like feathers. Silvery hisses and splutters of white noise in my ears rush like the ocean on shingle, a symphony of moonlight, on this frosty night. Kim M. Russell, 19th January 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Weekend Mini-Challenge: Mustn’t […]
Halo of Imagination
How incandescent is graffiti of the mind! On naked brick a celestial trick, a light show of imagination in deepest winter’s meditation. Kim M. Russell, 19th January 2019 My response to Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo Thursday photo prompt: Imagination #writephoto
Busonki Troiku
hooded darkness spilling on the first light snow shadow of the moon hooded darkness not even a star shaped hole in the bowl of the sky spilling on the first light snow a poet’s fresh ink inspiration shadow of the moon flying past its silver face a skein of snow geese Kim M. Russell, 17th […]
Sonnet to a Poet’s Hands
The young man’s hands were slender, quick and strong, composing sonnets to his unknown muse, creating worlds in drama and in song to challenge the emotions and amuse. The busy writer’s hands were stained with ink and words. His skin was cracked and raw with rhyme. The scratching of the pen spurred him to think […]
Selma the Cryptic Cryptid
A cryptic cryptid, Selma’s obscured in the icy depths of Lake Seljord through the long, dark Norwegian winters. She surfaces during hot, quiet summers, playing hide and seek in the fjords, searching for love with an elusive mate, another ferocious monster of the lake. Kim M. Russell, 17th January 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden […]
Tightropes and Stilts Revisited
The long and precarious tightrope walk stopped when I left the big top of teaching. Now I walk on creative stilts, sometimes teetering, sometimes tumbling into a safety net of words and rhyme. I don’t worry because I have the time. Kim M. Russell, 17th January 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif ~ […]
writing in north norfolk 