Six years ago, in the fertile belly of pandemicspring, you were inside looking out. The street was quiet, no traffic, bar a delivery van,the driver masked and gloved, as were the single walkers, with or without dogs.Not even an aeroplane in the sky. The sun shone, flowers bloomed, but you wiltedin the stifled isolation of […]
Tag: Day 29
As a Child Listening to Ella Fitzgerald
Satin and velvet tonesbroke through the crackleof a seventy-eight on my parents’ turntable,crooning and scatting like a flock of birds.Ella’s voice, a warm hug, skippingthe melody or drawing out emotion like the dripping strand from a spoonof honey.She bent and spun songs I’d heard delivered straight on the radio, dry,gave them souls and made them […]
Assignation with Apples
Nature’s fruits and their aromas are laden with sweet memories: a windfall of sparkling baubles or a bird café of dulcet squabbles over worms in russet orbs that end as feasts for our feathered friends. Each bite of your acidic sweetness arouses a harvest of ripe blushes in an orchard under cover of night. ‘We […]
Childhood in Monochrome
Loving grandparents were always there to house me, feed me, teach me, grandmother in charge of my care while my parents struggled daily. Now only a handful of monochrome photographs remain as tattered ghosts of the past, but my love of home, stories, poems and music still cast their light on the present. They are […]
In a Dusty Window in Delft
It was Easter, we were looking for something to eat before a gig; we were tourists wandering a street, canal on one side, on the other a row of houses. Our eyes slid sideways to glimpse through windows, idle curiosity in a city we had never been before, the picturesque home of pottery and Vermeer. […]
Souls
Why does the Earth keep turning, rolling back the night each morning? Where do we keep our souls? When will the sun stop burning and the moon stop shining? Why can’t we see our souls? How do we not stop breathing until the point of dying? Is that when we become souls? Kim M. Russell, […]
The Joy of Light 29
a slant of sunlight cutting a cloud of dust motes spring cleaning begins Kim M. Russell, 13th April 2019 My response to Carpe Diem’s Light Retreat 2019: The Joy of Light The penultimate haiku In our retreat, in which we had 30 days to create haiku and tanka on the theme of The Joy of […]
Love Eternally Day 29
autumn breathes in curls mist, leaves and a loved one’s hair tangled in the wind Kim M. Russell, 13th November 2018 My response to Carpe Diem’s Autumn Retreat 2018 Love Eternally It’s time for Carpe Diem’s Autumn Retreat, a period of 30 days to write haiku or tanka every day on a specific theme: ‘love […]
Finding the Way Day 29
a sunken garden enticing steps lead downwards the pungent shadows Kim M. Russell, 12th August 2018 My daily response to Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018 Finding the Way At Carpe Diem, we are almost at the end of the traditional seasonal retreat: a period of 30 days in which the goal is to write a […]
writing in north norfolk 