Down in my bones, I feel that this yearhas not been our swan song.Though the waves came higher,and broken reeds were flungacross an uneven path,we were dazzled by sun-flecked tides.With the coming of winter,something else haunts the landscape:a swan drenched in mud-scent,alive with the tang of the river. Kim M. Russell, 16th December 2020 My […]
Sugar Daddy Revisited
Daddy,you have eaten all the sugar,left me hungry and bleeding,a blistered foot without a shoe;you know I must killand sculpture youas a marble statue,bastard, you. Thou wast my universe, my cosmic mistress;if I had known thy crazed intentto render me in alabaster, a lifelesslump of death,I should have beggedfor one last breath. His breathless body […]
Logs in the Basket
Logs are frozento the touch,land in the wicker basketwith a thud.Dusty damp coalfills the hodand newspaper crownswait to lightkindling in the grate. As yesterday’s newsgoes up in smoke,flames roar to lifein our inglenook. Kim M. Russell, 14th December 2020 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille: In the Inglenook Linda is back this Monday to […]
A Change of Mind About Sharks
After years of needless fearof creatures I will never face,I’ve had a change of mindabout sharks being dangerous,blood-crazed and murderous. Last night, I watched a programmeabout the wonders of the deep,and marvelled at the pyjama shark,a stripy type of cat-shark (you know how I love cats). It lives on the bottom of the ocean,among kelp […]
Mysterious Landscapes Troiku
mysterious landscapes rise and unfold before my eyes worlds of clouds Chèvrefeuille mysterious landscapes windless rain among the trees misting my glasses rise and unfold before my eyes hills grey and invisible a foggy haunting worlds of clouds dark shadows until a break reveals honey light mysterious landscapes everything brown and silver flickered with leaf […]
From Air to Earth (and different kinds of black)
Tongues of white misttangle with trees and bitter-sweet scent of leaf-rust tumbling into the obscurityof tantalising humus,from Titian hues to Vantablack, to outer space and back. Kim M. Russell, 9th December 2020 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #49: A B C D E F G … After focusing on words recently, […]
Awakened by the Thaw
‘To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night’ (Gilbran) A heart stony with winter’s chill,and starved from arteries frozen still,needs gradual and gentle thawthat penetrates the very core.When temperatures start to climbafter months of deepest wintertime,shaking itself with a timid shiver,the heart becomes a singing river. Kim M. […]
The Kind Ghost
‘I knew we had a ghost,’ the writer said from her armchair piled with cushions, feet warming by the fire. ‘How’s that?’ ‘When we moved in, neighbours told me about a soldier who was killed in the Great War but returned to watch over his daughter, to whom he told stories. She became a writer, […]
Approaching the end of the year…
empty landscapes are waking up:weak December sun glints off frailwebs; frost sparkles in the sweepof headlights; we follow the trailof ancient sages in search of gold,frankincense and myrrh, in taleswe repeat so Christmas can be sold. Now, opening the advent doorsamid lighted candles and Yule trees,we cannot shake a sense of awe.Come New Year, we […]
Nude Study in Yellow
Her outstretched arms are fluid,drenched in golden liquid,legs immersed in shadowedmovement, feet flexed,ready to run. He wipes the brush,dips it into cadmium. Are these broken linesin shades of bananaa sun-filled visual love poemor a jaundiced portrayalof love gone lemon-sour? Kim M. Russell, 6th December 2020 A failed submission shared with Poets and Storytellers United Writers’ […]
writing in north norfolk 