The machine rumbles,bubbles with the scentof her favourite detergent,lending lightness to the drudgery,the air soap-shimmeryin a slant of spring sun. He sits on the oppositebench in the launderettewatching his washing tumblein the drier with a syncopatedrhythm, the clunk and clickof buttons and zips. The drier stops.She smiles, handshim a basket,into which he dropseach item. All […]
Tag: dverse Poets Pub
Anticipation
From my desk, I look out of the window and see the ornamental cherry tree, sunlight flickering through branches studded with shiny buds, reddish-brown splashed with pale green. A brisk wind shakes them, as if telling them to just get on with it. Every year is the same: I hold my breath, waiting for the […]
Circling
We circle each other,sun and moon, feelthe pull and pushof our magnetic fields.At different times of day,one of us yields or breaks away,planets or stars in our own right,creating our own light,halos of independence,before we collide,take up the danceagain, and we circle each other. Kim M. Russell, 24th March 2021 My response to dVerse Poets […]
A Painter Without a Brush
Without a brush,how could a painter fleshout spectral fingers of left-over snow,dab them with early sun’s glow,or stroke lines of slender hazel treesablaze with catkins, golden with bees? And yet, there they are, scrapedas if they had escapedfrom canvas, pressedand dragged, distressedand burningcapturingevery summer, autumn, winter, spring,all life erupting. Kim M. Russell, 23rd March 2021 […]
French Knots of Purple Heather
Spring French-knots the moorswith purple among rusted ferns,embroidering the tapestryof senses as the season turns,growing like a melody that slidesinto the senses on tumbling notes of birdsand the scattering of morning lightknotted together by a poet’s words. Kim M. Russell, 22nd March 2021 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Quadrille: Knot Mish is back this […]
Tales of Lake and Sky
This March we have Volume 8 Chapter 5 of Visual Verse, with an image by Stefan Keller. My poem is on page 24. As always, I recommend reading all the poems in the issue but, if you want to go straight to mine, it’s called ‘Tales of Lake and Sky‘. You can also read my past […]
The Art of Being Human
This being human is a circus trick.Day after day you perfect your act:a t i g h t r o p e w a l kbetween now and then,a flourish,and then back again,one foot in front of the other.It’s juggling swords,eating fiery words,putting your head in a lion’s mouthand inhaling its meaty breath.It’s the highsand […]
Star Watcher
After watching the stars all night, she was still out there, in the frozen outdoors, tracking a comet across the sky. It was slow-moving, not as bright as she expected, and then it changed course, heading towards her. The light stopped in mid-air, pulsing a shade of blue she’d never seen before. She thought, “I […]
Caught in the Headlights
In the sizzling silent dead of night, pain grips with talons, like an owl in the headlights with eyes of blood red. Snowy wings soar high towards the glimmer of dawn with an aching sigh. Pain rotates like an owl’s head caught in the headlights, talons and beak glisten red, cutting like scissors. I lie […]
To the young poet of the future
Dear poet, I picture you gazing at a star, concerned that you are still so far from being the poet you wish to become. From my position of restrospection I promise that your journey is the best lesson: you will be buffeted by storms and squalls, fluctuations in the weather of the soul, soothed by […]
writing in north norfolk 