Flashing blue lights pierced the ominous twilight of the alley behind the row of terraced houses, while uniformed police officers combed the fields and the woodland beyond. Friends and neighbours watched from doorsteps and upstairs windows. Later, they joined Theresa’s husband, Mick, and the police in a wider search. For now, Theresa sat at the […]
Tag: dverse Poets Pub
A Whale’s Lament
I thought that once my shadowed dorsal bentthrough undulations, swimming would be spent;descendants bask in waters far from me.I’m a menopausal hundred-year-old granny. The ocean sparkles glisten off my back,as I pick at barnacles and bladder wrack.I birthed my last calf back when I was thirty –I’m a menopausal hundred-year-old granny. I’m an awkward Orca […]
View from the Bus
We stare through steamy windows on the top deck of the bus,at people walking and waiting in the rain, unlike us,impatient with the crowds and the weather,while we steam in the proximity of bodies crammed together.We open a window to let in some air, and petrichor fills the air,punctuated by a curl of tobacco smoke, […]
The Significance of an Owl
I woke to a hoot in the dead of night,or was it early morning?On a branch outside my windowbasked an owl in silvery light.I’d hoped for a letter from Hogwarts, but no –so went back to dream on my pillow. Kim M. Russell, 10th March 2025 It’s Monday, and over at the dVerse Poets Pub […]
Just Wondering
I often wondered how life might have been growing up asAlice.That was a name and an adventure I admired when I wasa child.Would I have been a girl who followed rabbits, met queens,consumedpotions and cake, and wasn’t afraid ofmagic?Or would I eventually have lost my head? Iwonder. Kim M. Russell, 6th March 2025 It’s the […]
Life Cycle of a Cardigan
I began as wool shornfrom a sheep, a cluster of cloudto dye and card and spin,and knit until a perfect cardigan was born –colourful, cuddly and warm. When you first saw me I was freshand new, my colours bright.You’ll never know the frissonof joy when I felt your fingers tightin my fibre. And then you […]
March Panic
Seven years ago today, I was in a panic. We were snowed in, for the first time in years, and I needed to get to the station to catch a train southwards. My daughter was due to give birth to her first child and I’d promised to be there. Thankfully, in our village, the snow […]
Thinking about water while swimming in the pool
I break its surfacefeel its pearls roll down my skinI surge forward pressing palms togetherand in an outward circular stroke feeling the resistance of this chemical compoundfeeling its enormitysensing its presence in my bodyand around the eartha drop eroding s t o n ea refreshing GUSHa destructive W A V Ea treasure troveof pearl and […]
She Wears it Well
It’s a magical hue,indigo,teetering between twilightand midnight,blue and violet,the tint of an iristhat blooms in the gardenor the depth of an eye.Soft as velvet,it’s the colour of the moon’sfavourite gown.She wears it well. Kim M. Russell, 24th February 2025 It’s Monday and, at the dVerse Poets Pub, Lillian has us writing 44-word quadrilles incorporating the […]
Madrigal Muse
A ripple stream flowed steadfastly through snowand came out on the other side of spring,its bubbles lit by sunshine, brightly sparkling. A faithful friend, in winter it was slow,a muse on chilly days while walking;a ripple stream flowed steadfastly through snowand came out on the other side of spring. My lover waits down where the […]
writing in north norfolk 