Where once grasses buzzedwith jazz of cricketsand loud grasshoppers,cornfields have been razedto stubble, and strawploughed in umber earth. Herons stalk soddenfields, through soggy standsof russet bracken,on towards winter,in ancient rhythm,still pulsing with life. It’s the yawn of time,when the hearth’s tonguesets culture on fire,to glow through the blackdome of night untilthe coming of spring. Winter’s […]
Tag: dverse Poets Pub
Storm on the Horizon
“My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retractsto rally againas mine melts away for half a year” from ‘Polar Heart’ by Simon Barraclough Salt marshes fade awaybeneath late August skiestinged with ever more greyand a violet obsession. My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retracts. Wielding an axe of thunder,a storm skids hooves on dustof a […]
Signs of a Changing Season
There are signs all around me, subtle at first, but becoming more noticeable every day. The plums that last week were sweet and edible, are now covered in wasps and mould. Apples litter the grass, and a squirrel hops between them, nibbling on a piece between its claws. When I open the door to bring […]
Birthday Bouquet
The birthday bouquetis more than a week oldand wilting in the vase A shapely vase of glasshalf-filled with scummy waterglinting in the sun A mixture of flowersraise heads in a last hurrahof purple and pale yellow Brown-tinged leaves hangover the lip of the vaseover like the birthday Small white rosesstruggle to peek abovethe flaccid foliage […]
The Marriage of Apple and Cheese
I wash an apple under cold water;drops pearl on its blush like sweat on summerskin, releasing a burst of green scent.I let it dry while cutting slices from a blockof tangy, mature Cheddar cheese, redolentwith the laziness of cows, and then piercethe heart of the orb, cut it into eighths,and place them with the cheese […]
Bending Towards Autumn
The cool breathof autumn rises from earlymornings laced with dew, the golden dustiness of pearlyharvest light, the heady perfumeof marjoram and wild basil, and the clouds of bluebutterflies that bend the headsof nodding harebells before they fly away. Kim M. Russell, 19th August 2024 Free image found on Pixabay This Monday at the dVerse Poets […]
Suffolk Scallop
‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’, from Benjamin Britten’s opera, Peter Grimes. Pebbles slip and roll beneath our soleson the slope down to the ebb and swell. Suddenly it erupts from the shingle beach,a sculpture, two halves of a broken shell like hands extended to a passing gullor a cloud, one half upright, the […]
Waiting for Harvest
Rapeseed flowers and summerare no longer yellow, ratherbushy, their pods buffed and brittle.Wheat and emotions bristle,stalks and stubble stiffly sway,growing more bleached every day.We wait, baskets filled with apples,watching as the season dapples,before autumn’s fruity, rosy huestip us into winter blues. Kim M. Russell, 13th August 2024 Image by Julia Kicova on Unsplash It’s Tuesday […]
At the Prater
We met at the old Prater Ferris wheel on a chilly September afternoon. The aroma of Vienna sausage and the fairground music drifting on the wind were tinged with melancholy. We watched families and young couples fill the wooden cabins before wandering off to a café, where he ordered us both a hot chocolate with […]
All of Me
In a single hourof August moonrise,she steals all of me,lured by her silver glow.Time seems to stand still;I bask in her light show,and the deeper I dive,succumb to her moonbow. I can’t mourn the theftof my inner soul;moon, take all of me,I’ll treasure what is left.I stand in moonlight,baptised, not bereft.Unabashed, I know,I stand naked […]
writing in north norfolk 