A dreary winter morning metamorphoses with the fell swoop of a jay, a flash of cobalt among damp fox-brush bracken and berries lit up like Christmas lights left hanging long past Twelfth Night. The garden seethes with moisture but a chink of peachy sunshine spreads its wings and smiles on this January Sunday. Kim M. […]
Queen of Fireflies
The flames in her eyes gradually die; small fires still burn in the ice, the diamonds in her crown. Cold comfort for a firefly. Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Camera FLASH! Kerry says it’s time to strike a pose again with the photographic challenge for January, which comes […]
Window
The window is closed and all the scents of summer are trapped behind its pane. No bee’s buzz can penetrate the glass, no refreshing breeze can pass to relieve me of the pain of winter chill. But in the window of my mind, I can still see the shadow-play of roses and leaves on the […]
Brilliant Explosion – a poem in Visual Verse
A good start to the poetic year with a poem in the January 2018 issue, Vol. 5, Chapter 3 of the online Visual Verse anthology. You can find my poem on page 14 or you can link directly to the poem, entitled ‘Brilliant Explosion’.
Any More Fares?
To a young child, the jagged edge of paper poked out like a tongue from the machine slung round the conductor’s neck. ‘Any more fares, please?’ With a rattle of his handle he conjured a miniature scroll, a ticket printed with conundrums to last the big red bus ride home. Kim M. Russell, 2018 My […]
Black Dog
fairy tale ending a black dog’s envious eyes shining gratitude Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1341 The Story of the second Old Man and of the Two Black Dogs
Struggling to Think
I have never known complete silence. Just pin pricks in the backdrop of white noise, where darkness seeps into quiet moments. Memories rain into my never empty mind, daydreams creep up and worry at my imagination like dogs with bones, persistent ringing of the telephone, or the doorbell. Traffic passes, […]
Open
The door to another year has opened to let me in – or is it out? Chill air wakens my lungs, new and fresh it forces me to breathe deeply, open my lips and sing with the promise of green buds and snowdrops, old friends and new birth. I just have to step out the […]
The Old Man and the Hind
envious magic diluted in nature’s tears conquered by kindness Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1340 The Story of the first Old Man and of the Hind Scheherazade continues to save her life with ‘The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind’, a story I have heard of but […]
Storytelling
we are all dreamers in long nights full of shadows new stories take shape Kim M. Russell, 2018 My response to Carpe Diem #1339 The Merchant and the Genie One of the things I love about Carpe Diem is being introduced to new ideas, stories and writers. ‘The Merchant and the Genie’ is new to […]