We hide while bombs destroy our homes,mothers and children hunkeredin the dust of a city reduced to its bare bones. Men came, destroyed and, conscienceless,fled the scenes of devastation; they aregone while we survivors are hopeless, watching the afterbirth of jet contrailsstill fading in the silent sky.It will take years to clear the city of […]
Tag: dverse Poets Pub
Waiting
Here in North Norfolk, we are still waiting for autumn foliage, although the berries are making up for the lack of colour. There are a few yellow and gold leaves drifting about in the current stormy weather, but they are nothing like the usual glorious displays we have had in previous years. Saying that, our […]
Certainty
How can we be sure that our two hearts beat as one;that our two planets orbit around the same sun;that our footprints travel in the same direction?Do we share the same emotion? And how do we know? Kim M. Russell, 19th October 2023 Image by Filipp Romanovski on Unsplash It’s Thursday and at the dVerse […]
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 – […]
Stance
She folds her arms,just like her mother,tries to look stern, lipsfirmly pressed together,eyes blazing. Her mothersuppresses a giggle,hands now on hips,gives her forefinger a wiggle –and they both fall aboutlaughing at a curly–hairedthree-year-old’s cheek. Kim M Russell, 16th October 2023 Free image found on Freepik It’s Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, where we […]
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 […]
Deep Pockets
‘Mother, why do we have to get up in the dark?’ my daughter whispered. I had warned her to be a mouse, to creep and stay silent. We didn’t want to be caught by the Witchmaster. I wore my skirt with deep pockets and filled them with bread, cheese and sachets of my special herbs […]
Five oak trees point the way
(i)Look out for magpies,five on my silver birch,they will laugh at youfor a while, untilyou have counted them all. (ii)Listen for the sound of acornsfalling and bouncingacross the roadwhere five oak treespoint the way. (iii)Follow the aromaof freshly brewed coffeefrom the pubin the bend of the road –it opens at five. (iv)Don’t forget to stroke […]
Once it was the Colour of Dreaming
Once it was the colour of dreamingthat filled the sky with countless stars;while other girls spent their youth in barsI would watch the cosmos streaming.Submersed in the soft light of the moon,exploring her face, its perfections and its scars,I whistled along with owl and nightingale.Oblivious to time, the morning came too soonand the colour of […]
flamenco beat
I’m not one for dancingI soak up sights and writerhythmic poetryrecreate castanetsromance of sights and lights sitting in a cornerthe slap of clapping handstransforms into wordsthe dizzy whirl of skirtsSpanish fans, clapping hands Kim M. Russell, 21st September 2023 Image by Joana Cordeiro Ferreira on Unsplash This Thursday at the dVerse Poets Pub we are […]
writing in north norfolk 