Macabre plague pit like a womb, Skeletons carefully laid in rows: Dirt rained down on rotting flesh, There were no flowers And no tomb. Mass burial, only priests believed that souls were saved, A village of plague victims all buried in a huge grave. When the dying were taken to a monastery hospital, Did they […]
Shiny Red Wellies
At the beginning of December your first year was over; you had found your feet, unsteady as yet but eager to make a quick escape. You wanted to chase flakes that fell from the sky, fluttered on your eye lashes and kissed your cheeks, even after a week when snow rose to the roof, icicles […]
(Echo) Chamber Music
the polite murmur of woodwind and harpsichord echoes across time Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to Carpe Diem #1089 Divertimento in D minor, Op. 3, no. 3 by Anna Bon di Venezia In today’s episode, Chèvrefeuille has introduced me to a female composer who is completely unknown to me and I was also unaware […]
Between Words
the length of a thought in breathless space between words resonates silence Kim M. Russell, 2016 My twenty-fourth haiku for the Carpe Diem First Winter Retreat 2016 the kick off – find the silence
Tomorrow’s Snow
sunshine’s a memory stuffed into feathery clouds with tomorrow’s snow Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to Carpe Diem Universal Jane #8 gathering clouds In this new episode of the Carpe Diem feature in honour of Jane Reichhold, Chèvrefeuille has inspired us with some ‘winter’ haiku by Jane: gathering clouds heavy and dark with holding […]
Conquest of Paradise
choir of angels raises heavenly voices musical conquest Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to Carpe Diem #1088 Conquest Of Paradise by Vangelis Chèvrefeuille has shared a music video today called ‘Conquest of Paradise’ by Vangelis, a modern classical composer.
Frosty Silence
silence of fresh frost glistening on the footpath broken underfoot Kim M. Russell, 2016 Photograph by David Russell My twenty-third haiku for the Carpe Diem First Winter Retreat 2016 the kick off – find the silence
Honesty
In spring, at the end of my grandparents’ Otherwise tidy garden, I gazed for hours At scruffy clumps of white and purple flowers: Granddad called them honesty, Which puzzled me. I watched their pretty petals perish, Leaving brown paper parcels of seeds, Waiting to be buffeted on a breeze Whose windy fingers would peel away […]
6 am
Six o’clock is muted; A few birds mutter tentatively As if morning is disputed, Unsure of their internal clocks Due to the absent Crowing of the neighbour’s cock. The sky is opaque with autumn mist The colour of an old vest. Hanging from the pinch of plastic pegs, Limp washing drips. Silence sizzles. And then, […]
A Recipe for Insanity
eviscerate and bone me batter and bake me blind take my sweetness to the hard-crack stage and caramelise my mind splinter me brittle with mortar and pestle quadrille me with sanity fine-edged with a sharpening steel from your batterie de cuisine of the surreal Kim M. Russell, 2016 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics […]
