The souls of soles, when bare, kiss earth, and sink into its vibrations. Shoes dull the senses, feet despair of boots and pumps, need sensations of soil and moisture, and the flow of air around each toe. Feet welcome liberation every summer; the change from bare white trotters to tanned exultation, collecting grains of sand […]
Alice
I lie beneath this rusted cross of curlicues,surrounded by these muted churchyard hues,alone among lichen-covered stones,in the peaceful housing of my crumbled bones. You’re imagining my life, how bright my smilefor parents, siblings, husband, perhaps a child;you know my my name, the date when I was born –and died – but no idea of those […]
Whispering Branches
Through the window I can seeand hearmy corkscrew willow tree;it whispersancient storieson a blossom-scented breeze,but secretsgathered in its rootsare only ever sharedbetween the writer and her muse. Kim M. Russell, 7th April 2021 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #64: Beloved Companions Rosemary is hosting today and sharing a photograph of […]
Eddying
Ayoungstream fillsthe spring woods,fizzes and chatters,bubbling up from its aquifer. At first it forms a tiny pool,clear and natural,eddying,untilspringfloods. Kim M. Russell, 7th April 2021 Image found on dreamstime.com My response to NaPoWriMo Day Seven Today’s prompt asks us to choose a syllable-based form: the shadorma, a six-line, 26-syllable poem or stanza – a poem […]
Adrift
You square no one, rain and earthneglect the thrust and seduction ofyour repulsive cell. Always adrift inthe same vast night, nobody putsup a fight and sits tight, cosmosand black hole of anybody’s wrongdestroying another darkness, horneffects of addiction, after you misseach other. Sit it out for the first time […]
One year ago today…
It’s a year today since I self-published my children’s book, which is also enjoyed by adults:
Dazed
a glass of winenot mineblood redagainst whitelinenshimmerswith candlelightstirs emotionsand baffles headsmakes us dazedand confusedas someone once saidwith one flickof a napkinthe glass is dashedwhite linenadorned with rosy blush Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2021 Image by Edge2EdgeMedia on Unsplash My response to dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille: In Praise of the Grape Linda, our host for […]
I live by a river
The river wraps around trees,some fallen, some weeping,plays over branches,and twigs, scattering light. Yesterday was full of birdsswooping, diving, chattering,among young leaves;a robin blustered in the cherry, parrying the two-note callof a pheasant strutting amongdaffodils, eager for a matein these early days of rebirth. Today, unseasonal snowflakes meltas soon as they touch the silent earth. […]
A North Norfolk Midwinter
Broad, grey Norfolk skies. Weave clouds.Anthracite grey. A boat,steel river wash forms intrepid in its wake,discouraging ice. Draws wintry breath,draws roosting crows, draws hoarfrost across bare fields,landscape’s fallow womb. Kim M. Russell, 5th April 2021 My response to NaPoWriMo Day Five It’s Monday and it’s snowing here, not heavily, it’s Easter snow. The prompt for […]
In the Belly of Pandemic Spring
Last year,in the belly of pandemic spring,I was shut in. Walls warped,windows were eyes,and the chair in the corner stayed empty. All the words I wrote poured off the page;I had to scoop them up and paste them back on,like poison pen letters to myself. This year, I’m sitting in the empty chair,planning what I’ll […]
writing in north norfolk 