It was the first Jack the Ripper experience for Melanie, accompanying her brother, Simon, out-of-work actor and part-time London Walks guide. She’d enjoyed his Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens walks, but this one was creepier: it was autumn, twilight had already turned to night, and the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes […]
Rummaging
“Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed.” From Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Digging deep into the handbagof my soul, I find a snot-filled tissueof lies, a childhood fraught with tearsand worry, my mother’s bloody nose,coming home from school on my ownto find a locked door, […]
So Much More
So much more has becomeof tiny, briny crystals, salty tearscollecting on seaweed or in oyster shellsto conjure shiny pearls. Rising to the surface,they’re tossed in storms,ebb and flow out of reach,or delight us on sandcastles on a beach. Kim M. Russell, 8th September 2025 Monday has come around again, and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, […]
Seasonal Vertigo
Tilt- edhead like a birdwith goodbye in its eyes,summer is about to leave usbehind. Ahead,autumn’s about to glow;a hello in its eyes.I feel the worldtilt- ing. Kim M. Russell, 4th September 2025 I can’t believe it’s Thursday already and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, we are Meeting the Bar with Björn and cinquains. Björn says […]
Spilt Secrets
Shadows have been eavesdroppingon my dreams, sharing them everywhere,so now all my ancestral ghostsknow my hopes and fears. They have revealed the knots that burrowedin my heart and made a nest there,whispered unwritten poems and thoughtsthat I wasn’t ready to share. But, instead of wrestling coils of anxiety,I’m humming to a muffled moon like I […]
Those who went before
Last week, my husband took me to a medieval church in the neighbouring village of Crostwight. He led me down a grassy track, at the end of which was a black wooden gate to a churchyard with ancient graves and a stone church dating back to the early fourteenth century. Decorating the eaves were six […]
Eternity
Eternity is the great unknown, a breathbeyond the stars, and life and death, a shimmering black holewaiting to swallow us whole, together with all our thoughts, it seems,our hopes, desires and dreams. In dreams, we travel through timeand space, a place sublime, and maybe catch a glimpseof eternity. But they are mere blinks of our […]
A Glorious Rumpus
This August has been a gloriousrumpusa van Gogh paletteof blues, greens and ochres. The little apple tree is a woven buzzof waspish ruckusas premature apples causea sugary fuss. Stubbled fields hum with heat.Tired sunflowers bend heads, deadbeat. Kim M. Russell, 25th August 2025 Today I’m hosting Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub and we’re […]
Where are all the lost dreams?
Where are all the lost dreams when morning yawns?Its breath still clouds the sky,waiting for birds to announce the day. Where are the dreams that woke me up?I stir my morning cup of tea with a spoon,and find only a reflection of the fading moon. Where are the dreams we dreamed together?We are tinged with […]
Hat
She had been praying so long for rain to come.Wilting under the glare of a punishing sun,she took her eye off the ball, the first time that week.A drop bounced off her head, trickled down her cheek, an unexpected tear in the thick dust of the dry season.Monochrome clouds rolled in fast across the sky,and […]
writing in north norfolk 