this summer’s overtopped itself with fern and willowherb below a tree a grassy lea with fern and willowherb it’s hard to find the perfect verb at least it is for me when winter comes and no bees hum at least it is for me most summer’s overdressed in green and days are always warm with […]
Kindly Moon
At twilight, there she is, an old friend rising in the east and setting in the west, above fields shorn with harvest. She’s on the look-out for geese complaining after thousands of miles flight. And she smiles, this kindly moon, as they cross her face, knowing they have no perception of space, just a birds-eye […]
Ringing School Days
The resonance of a handbell rang the hours at our school: it summoned us to class each day; signified the end of play; commanded a straighter line by the canteen at dinnertime; at four o’clock, it made me wait expectantly at the school gate. Kim M. Russell, 17th October 2022 After a very long hiatus, […]
The Fervour of Fermentation
The seasonal fermentation of my October passion becomes more fervent, and I am more observant as her larder, fully stocked, is temporarily unlocked: piles of acorns underfoot; hedges full of autumn fruit; birches seed and conkers brown, sycamore helicopters tumble down; and, multiplied by recent rain that’s made the grasses green again, hordes of mushrooms […]
A Halloween Affair
We meet on the edge of dusk as the moon starts to rise, its misty light highlighting the lacy stonework of the church tower and the shadow of its silent bell. Eleanor leads me through graves blotched with moss and lichen that over hundreds of years have erased the inscriptions and life stories of the […]
A Deceit of Lapwings
Singing softly as they zig-zag simple songs to a two-note tune, silhouetted lapwing deceit syncopated in trickery. Peewits flash and turn, black and white, peeling from sky, they start to dive, peacocking with aerobatics, peaking with their springtime antics. Kim M. Russell, 6th October 2022 This Thursday, Grace is our host for the dVerse Poets […]
River of Lava
Many thanks to the wonderful Freya Pickard for featuring my haiku in her current Volcano theme series. You can find it over at Pure Haiku.
Hung Up and Washed Out
I am hung up on the news, even though I turned it off several times today, but it won’t go away, someone else keeps turning it back on. Nothing is black and white, the news is all in colour now, apocalyptic visions, forests of coffins, dogs of war are breeding instant gore, violence and harbingers […]
Contentment
In quiet moments, I backtrack to childhood, when life wasn’t packed with worries and responsibilities. I’d stare for hours at cloudy skies; watch a bird catch a worm, see it wriggle and squirm; a beetle on its way somewhere. Contented child without a care. Kim M. Russell, 4th October 2022 It’s Quadrille Monday at the […]
The Angel Within
The absence of goodness is like absence of rainfall; we are left with the dryness and oppressive heat of evil, its mark on each of us, tattooed on heart and soul. But deep within our bones a feathered angel lingers, soothing tormented groans, a dulcet beneficent singer of songs in soothing tones, the long-awaited rain-bringer. […]
writing in north norfolk 