A String of Pigeons

I count them on the power line:one, two, three, four, five pigeons,plump, grey, grumbling curmudgeons,with the occasional coyish coothat helped me througha pandemic void of company,a string of them, comical and pearly.Just before sunset,a window in the tumbling cloud,accompanied by a loudclap of wings, they explodelike fireworks that have lost their sparksinto the fading light,their […]

Thinking

Mother Nature fell asleep thinkingand her thoughts became dreamsinto rich, dark soil sinking. Nothing in this world is ever as it seemsand her fantasies took root,watered by rain and underground streams. By spring, the roots had given birth to shootsthat sought the warmth of the sun,and the shoots grew and began to produce stalks and […]

Invocation to the Wise Women

Misunderstood throughout history,tortured, drowned and burnt at the stake,you scrutinise Trumpian mockeryamid the terrible intensityof wildfires, plague and death,and all their haunted weirdness. You have seen us at our worst;this wicked summer we have seen it too,and we rue our inaction in the face of doom. Forget the shaman, Chiron and Mentor,all male, all muscle-bound […]

Moorland

bouquet of pheasantsbursts from rusty moorland fernsa breath of heather Kim M. Russell, 21st September 2020 My response to Carpe Diem Time Challenge #3 Moorland I only just spotted this little teaser that Chèvrefeuille created for us yesterday! It’s an episode of ‘Carpe Diem Time Challenge’, in which we create a haiku, tanka or other […]

Insects and Stars in Jars

I have a poem in this month’s issue of Visual Verse, in which writers have been inspired by an image by Helen Marten.  Once again, I’m in excellent company.  You can find my poem on page 45 of Visual Verse Volume 7 Chapter 11 or you can go directly to the poem, entitled ‘Insects and […]

This Summer

I watched the movie of this summerfrom inside, shielded from the unrealityof vacant sunny days, no traffic noise,a drought of touch and laughter. I lived each day in the now,no plans for the after,uncertain if there would be any kind of future. And now, at the tail end of this summer,rain-diamonds decorate the windowpane,mornings are […]