Vs, Ws and Xs

On my first much-needed walkin a few weeks, a heron, statue-still,sat guard by the bridge – untilI took out my phone for a shot, and it slow-winged up and overthe dyke. Down the muddy lanethere were deep red berries,and overhead the clamour of geese flying in v, w and xformations, criss-crossing the sky.They left me […]

Grief Crows

The last of the wildflowershas faded, the air is pregnant           with the first breath of falling          leaves, and long grass is meshed with violet splashes, commonknapweed on common ground.           A glance overhead reveals          something flapping, a black glove or a hand, waving, first oneand then another, keeping close,           mime artists skittering – […]

Tureen

The tureen is porcelain and deepand filled with thick and creamy soup.The scent is spicy and aromatic,the colours vivid and chromatic,with orange carrot and butternut squash,silver onion, green celery, a red flashof chilli flakes in a constellation,and floating planets of crunchy crouton.The ladle sits in its shiny groove,waiting for one of us to make a […]

Cobwebs

Dewdrops stud the spiders’ threadsthat span the fence posts and the gate.Blowing in the autumn breeze, cobwebsdangle between trees, a trap for fallingleaves. Berries stud the spiders’ threadsthat hang from hedge and rowan tree,and woodland creatures make their beds,store nuts and fruit in preparation. Flocksof birds fly in migration, and the redsof leaves and berries […]

What’s Going On?

Each walk reveals autumn’s treasures: late blooming flowers, nuts and berries illuminate ditches and hedges, ruby haws stud green leaves, and sunflowers linger between harvest sheaves. August’s visitors are long gone; daughter, son-in-law and grandsons have left a trace of joy behind, and they are always on my mind as I walk the country lanes. […]

Tuscan Sunset

Summer lingers: a few green leaves the colour of basil and fennel seed in thyme-scented September hedges; a flurry of saffron around the edges of a stilted, shrivelled sunflower; unharvested corn, a dirty ochre, and moon-yellow unmown grass gild autumn. A mural of flavour, a kaleidoscope of colour. Kim M. Russell, 20th September 2022 Tuesday […]

Autumn’s Folly

She paints the landscape red and gold,cossets fruit, more than we can hold, silvers webs and tinkers with the lightonly to plunge us into wintry night. Her leafy folly flutters and decays,the fruits of her labour last but days, winter haunts her with ghostly mistand bids her goodbye with an icy kiss. Kim M. Russell, […]