Heavy tide inhales wind and gasps out chilly salty spray, tangles tongues with rain, spattering the windscreen with Neptune’s saliva. Waves wallop the sea wall – no gulls today. In the dry heat of the car, a disembodied voice on the radio mourns the devastation of last night’s storm. The car behind sounds its horn. […]
A South London Childhood
Balconies and concrete stairs, beery piss in broken lifts, every night the same old prayers, someone get us out of here. Tightrope walking on the fence, leap the gap between the sheds, long walk to the traffic lights, sideswiped by a motorbike. Buttercups and dandelions crowd long grass by rusty gates; in the alley, shadows […]
The Awakening
in the fading night your face was laden with dreams fluttering eyelids the rise and fall of your chest and our curious kisses Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1400 The Awakening, a love poem by Rumi In the final regular episode of March, our inspiration is a love poem written by […]
Valley
The valley’s wet with soupy mist pouring down its flanks; the river’s murky with muddy flood gushing down its banks. The morning sun has shed its blood and set the clouds alight; the hill’s a blackened silhouette where daytime meets with night. Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo Thursday Photo […]
No Room for Passion
In a room too small for tantrums, surreptitious snow storms smother her with quiet quilts. She is a swirl of flakes and ice, cradling the little heat that’s left in the whiteness of her breasts. Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Imaginary garden with Real Toads Fireblossom Friday: Poetic Imagery This week Fireblossom is […]
Beauty of the Heart
a crystal dew drop liquid kiss to break the thirst last night’s dreams shattered Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1399 The Beauty of the Heart Today’s poem has been taken from Masnavi: Teachings by Rumi: The Beauty of the Heart The beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty: its lips […]
Family Treasure
In the snapshot, you are smiling, the great uncle I knew for only a few years; yet I keep your photographs, nineteen-thirties monochrome, together with Neptune’s and Davy Jones’ endorsement of your initiation into the solemn mysteries of the deep. Seven years to the day before my mother’s birth, you sat on a boat bound […]
Hole in the Sky
sun’s purity breaks through ragged fabric of sky announced by birdsong Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1398 Purity Today’s episode is about purity, the theme of another poem by Rumi: Purity A certain Sufi tore his robe in grief, and the tearing brought such relief he gave the robe the name […]
A Bunch of Sunshine
You can keep your bouquets of pungent lilies and blushing roses, cultivated beauty intertwined. What I would like is delicate frills, the brilliance of daffodils: a natural bunch of sunshine. Their trumpets trill the breath of spring, their breeze-swept petals fluttering, their yellow flowers are a welcome sign of the end of wintry blasts, warmer […]
Rabbit Ear Iris
starlit looking glass ripples distort the surface your face an iris Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem’s Crossroads #3 Rabbit Ear Iris In today’s episode of this CDHK special feature, our challenge is to create a haiku by ‘fusing’ the following haiku by Basho: rabbit-ear iris how much it looks like its […]
