We welcomed them eighty years ago from the shadows of the night of broken glass to the streets of Britain and beyond, child refugees, hungry and scared, in need of homes. History should not be allowed to repeat itself; it’s our turn to act, to learn from the past and protect children fleeing conflict and […]
Tag: dverse Poets Pub
On the back of the bathroom door…
hangs the cosiest cardigan, the one I hug to me in the early morning; that embraces me while brewing the first cup of tea; that warms me as I write a chilly January poem; the one that shields me from the sneaky draught that evades the excluder and, unwarmed by the log burner, wraps itself […]
Lonely Magpie
On a never-ending January day, the whole garden drips with silent grief. There are a few sparse, dried-up leaves clinging desperately to the willow, now pollarded and looking sorry for itself. No birds alight on its branches, not even the magpie, which has taken to haunting the silver birch right at the end near the […]
Morning Inspiration
I get up early while you’re still asleep; avoid the cats while creeping down the stairs, try not to wake you with my leaden feet, and stumble over work boots into chairs. The floor is cold, and so’s the toilet seat, the sink is laced with toothpaste and stray hairs. The cat tray smells and […]
Bread-Making in Winter
For months frayed foliage has covered earth, the agèd year is faded to sepia shades and now it turns again to white and grey with early dusk as winter draws its breath. The frigid bite of January’s mellowed, outdone by the aroma, as it lingers, of yeast and flour wafting from your fingers, familiar scent […]
If I hadn’t written that poem
‘The world is never the same once a [good] poem has been added to it’. Dylan Thomas If I hadn’t looked up to search the heavens, would my soul ever have been soothed? I waited patiently for shooting stars to zip across the deepest, darkest winter sky – but the clouds were dense, obscured the […]
Promise
We are dazzled by brightly coloured lights the silver, gold and white, hanging above the busy street. Sparkles drip from trees and eaves – even the traffic lights flash with Christmas cheer. Above us, the sky is goose-feather grey, our noses sting with icy air and below our feet the path echoes with winter’s forge. […]
December Moon
December moon had reached its height, everything was bleached of hue, lending fields a spectral light tinged with frosty blue. Everything was bleached of hue except for silent shadows tinged with frosty blue like moths gathering at windows. Except for silent shadows, all of nature shivered like moths gathering at windows, and icicles on branches […]
Bread
The scent of winter’s mellowed by the yeasty aroma of your fingers kneading dough. Now foliage covers the ground, the year fades from brown to grey, drawing in with early dusk. My stomach’s hollow with the taste of frost as I bite into the first slice of home-baked toast spread with butter soft and yellow […]
Scrooged Again
It’s that time I fear, when we are expected to be of good cheer, like a glass of mulled wine or a pint of good beer, to dance with the boss at the company Christmas party and regret it the rest of the year. Kim M. Russell, 2nd December 2018 My response to dVerse Poets […]
writing in north norfolk 