Tag: earthweal

Mouth Agape

Never worn, just hangingthere,eyeless and mouthagape,an emptiness thatspeaksvolumes of historical festivityand plague,the drunken pox, depravity,appetites and follyof the age. Kim M. Russell, 12th October 2020             My response to earthweal weekly challenge: Earth-Masks Brendan has given us a detailed background to this week’s theme: masks, something we wear now as […]

Elephant

In a world of watery hues,greens and blues,her vision is binocular,staring at the moon, oblivious to stars. Her worn ears, torn ears, flare,moth-eaten flags as she swaysthrough overhanging leaves,trunk reaching. She grieves. Vibrations of heart and lungsripple wavelike across skin,map of life ingrainedwith wrinkles, rubs and stains. Floundering feet, ancient prints in the dust,track memories […]

Michaelmas Daisies

When all wildlife is depletedand we are left to scrabbleamong limy rocks and burnt-outshrubs and copses, and rowthe marshland for sustenance,we may be rewardedwith a universe of daisiesto remind us of the past:the gathering of carrotsand merrymaking,all before facingthe death of the old year,the passing of the old life,the cold ash of isolation. Kim M. […]

Invocation to the Wise Women

Misunderstood throughout history,tortured, drowned and burnt at the stake,you scrutinise Trumpian mockeryamid the terrible intensityof wildfires, plague and death,and all their haunted weirdness. You have seen us at our worst;this wicked summer we have seen it too,and we rue our inaction in the face of doom. Forget the shaman, Chiron and Mentor,all male, all muscle-bound […]

This Summer

I watched the movie of this summerfrom inside, shielded from the unrealityof vacant sunny days, no traffic noise,a drought of touch and laughter. I lived each day in the now,no plans for the after,uncertain if there would be any kind of future. And now, at the tail end of this summer,rain-diamonds decorate the windowpane,mornings are […]

Do you name your trees?

Late afternoon sunlight blinkslike my gold molar when I laugh. It jokes among the honeysuckle leavesthat hug the cherry tree. They are mapped with age spots and veins,frustrated at their fading. On the third shelf up,surrounded by fiction books and poetry, the photograph of my mother as a little girlstares from a frame made of […]

Sudden Joy

The bay tree’s gone,chopped to let the sunlight in,but fighting back with fresh shootsand a surprisefluorescent yellow evening primrosegrowing at its roots.       Yesterday, I walked in places new,soaked my idle boots in dewdodged overhanging branchesand brambles still heavy with plump fruit,past haystacks,  across recently ploughed fieldsto sudden joy – a crop of […]

Armageddon Revisited

The man said global warming was fake news,a conspiracy, a feeble attempt to screwa thriving economy. The man said it was fine to own a rifle or handgun,as long as it was just for fun, to carry onhunting without a care. The man said he needed more electricity,forget turbines, solar panels and the sea,go nuclear. […]