is the sound of wave washing whale spurt of spout from blowhole mournful moan of humpback’s tune whaler’s ahoy and thud of harpoon a deconstructed tooth or bone hacked and sawn, cut and honed when a lull of inactivity gave rise to creativity a reminder of giants of the sea human beings’ waste and cruelty […]
Exile
a one-way ticket becoming free again broken sunflower heartsick for the scents of home ripened fruit and failing leaves Kim M. Russell, 4th October 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1514 Exile (Tan Renga Challenge) In today’s episode, we have E for Exile and the challenge is to create a tan renga from one of […]
Dreamer
stalking by moonlight I chase shape-shifting shadows in monochrome dreams Kim M. Russell, 3rd October 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1513 Dreamer We have already got to the letter D for ‘dreamer’.
Washing Day
I can still smell soap bubbles in the scullery, steamy clean and floating through my early years; my grandmother’s hands red and hot, tea-towels boiling in the biggest pot as I turned the handle of the wringer, reminded always to ‘Mind your finger!’ I remember sitting on the back step while she raised the line […]
The Shyness of Beauty
to listen, fine not to listen, fine too… nightingale singing out of the darkness the shyness of her […]
Blossoms
a blackbird whistles in a cloud of pink blossom announcing the day these cherry blossoms each one a microcosm painted by nature Kim M. Russell, 2nd October 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1511 Basho’s Blossoms (Revise That Haiku) Today it’s the second letter in the alphabet, B for Basho’s blossom, and the challenge is […]
October Apples
Some of the windfalls have been collected and piled on a plastic garden chair. There are no signs of wild-life bites or nibbles, and only one green apple among them. They blush with October colours and scent. Among them, one is more than half russet, almost bronze, a bruised rogue among the beauties. It must […]
Adventure
a sprinkling of frost icing this fresh-baked morning a new adventure Kim M. Russell, 1st October 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1510 Adventure … the celebration starts This month we celebrate Carpe Diem’s sixth anniversary and we will have an episode a day, following the alphabet, starting today with the letter A for […]
Final Curtain
final curtain falls billowing like ocean waves silencing the stars final curtain falls a veil across the sunrise no more blackbird song billowing like ocean waves there is no applause when the curtain falls silencing the stars dark clouds pass over the moon the curtain’s fallen Kim M. Russell, 30th September 2018 My response to […]
Adrift
It was the season of drifting scents, ice on the windscreen, pine needles on the wind. Outside, Christmas roses still clung to thorny stems and I longed for secateurs to deadhead delicate corpses but could not bear to touch petals the colour of bruised skin. Instead I opened a window to cut the cloying breath […]
writing in north norfolk 