Something in the Walls

“There’s something in the walls,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me through the front door. We stood in the hallway, listening, my mother with her ear against the wall. Outside, the wind was dancing a mazurka, spinning branches in its embrace, lifting the door knocker and tapping to come in. “See,” I said. […]

On First Encountering a Stallion

In a dust-clouded paddock, a summer stallion,Not midnight black but deepest brown,Rolled one eye, expressive and defiant,Cautiously curious and determined to be dominant.Tendering my trembling fingers, openPalm of one hand in silent supplication,I kept the other in my jacket,Shuffling cubes of sugar in a pocket,Relishing the sweet sting of anticipation.Startled and skittering from a sudden […]

November Monday

Monday is the colour of sky,the first day of the weekas fresh as washing on a line. This November Monday,there’s a musty yellow scent,an ochre aroma of decay, like a pumpkin or a melon,overripe and mushy mellow,not citrus-sharp like lemons. This Monday’s weatheris washed into a muddy green,sun and wind and rain together, mixed up […]

November Burning

Leaf-flame disappears from trees,doused into a sodden massbeneath my boot-clad feet,kicked until the limp leaves liftand fall – again. Drizzle develops into steady rain,but neighbours are intent on rakingand burning. Pungent billowspermeate lank laundryon the washing line. Boots off, safe and dry indoors,the first fire of the season roars,releasing smoky memoriesof the November mornwhen she […]

Sporous

Early raindropspatterand the blackmatterof the forest exhales,richand slow,happy spores that spread and grow. Exquisitemother-of-pearl,puff-balled and ink-cappedmushrooms twirla polka with scarlet dotted toadstools,at the annual fungus festival,tripping psychedelichappiness with fly agaric. Kim M. Russell, 2nd October 2020 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Monday Quadrille: In Need of a Happiness Project Lille would like us to […]

Greening the Mind

Word-bound, I watch the coming winterhaunt the garden, eager to paint it silver. I count the rags of blue sky overhead,topped with grumbling thunderheads, savour the smell of rich black earth, the gleamof gold and lemon, not quite drowning out the green. Trees drip with limpid air this green-gold morninglike words from my poetic pen, […]

Blue Moon

once in a blue moonthe beauty of a momentseldom and fleeting Kim M. Russell, 2nd November 2020 My response to Carpe Diem #1838 Blue Moon On 31st October, we had a Blue Moon, even more special as it occurred at Halloween, and the second full moon in a month, which is why today’s theme is […]

A Time of Ghosts

In the shadows of change, of life and thought,they anchored the past to their unsettled present.Obligations did not cease with death. Ghosts were obvious and continued to be potentimages of past sins, promises and regrets,seeping from the jet-black trappings, guilt-laden luxury and ornate statuary in graveyard and cemetery.The pleasurable shudder between living and deadhaunted Victorians […]