You have been a familiar landscape to yourself, all these years of seeing your reflection in mirrors, shop windows, the still surface of a pond. You thought you knew the prospect of your frown, the parallel lines of your smile and the curves of your hills and valleys. Until one day, at a family gathering, […]
Tag: Midweek Motif
Metamorphosis
early morning snow landing on a fresh white page robins track haiku Kim M. Russell, 5th December 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: Changes Susan and Sumana bring us the aroma of change this midweek, with the sad news of their departure as hosts on 18th December. They have shared poems by Rilke, […]
Gentle Winter Reminder
Snow has been falling for half an hour and already the garden is covered with white. Slumped by the log store, only the tip of an old sack is visible as I approach, feet firmly in my wellies, one sock creeping down to my toes. The logs are frozen to the touch, landing in the […]
The Authenticity of Autumn
Woodland paths glimmer in the breath of dawn and shadows withdraw, musky miasmas of mulch. Leaves spin, dizzy helicopters, colours bright as fire, until they land in a dog-pile and rot underfoot. Wracked with weather scars, ancient trees slow, branch and root, their fissures adorned with fungus and spiralling mushrooms of sulphurous yellow, orange and […]
Beauty Beyond the Grave
The shadow of laudanum no longer stained her skin, in life and death her beauty spilled luminous, and green-blue eyes belied disease that once coiled within. Her glorious red hair had grown beyond eternal sleep, entangled in it, Rossetti’s book of poetry, penetrated by a single worm where damp and mould had seeped. Seven long […]
Winter Apologia
I forgive the winter darknessthat carries deep withinthe unspoken promiseof the electricity of spring.Every dancing snowflake,each frost-muted twig,stows trickles of bird song,brightly budding sprigsof snowdrops, bluebells, cowslipsand wood anemones,and bursts of fragrant blossomin hedgerows and trees. Kim M. Russell, 23rd October 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: Forgiveness Sumana brings us forgiveness as […]
Missing the Point
From mid-autumn until the end of winter,each day begins and ends with night,not morning’s gentle lightening or splinterof tea-time twilight, although sunsetstill kaleidoscopes in clear October skies.We live from day to day: wake up,rise and read about incessant liesover the rim of a tea or coffee cup.Then it’s time to catch a bus or train,ignoring […]
Truth
Like me, said the albino magpie with machine-gun-like chatter, truth isn’t always black and white, and he took off from the tree, flying free. Kim M. Russell, 3rd October 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: Truth Susan is back for the Midweek Motif, honouring Gandhi’s birthday with the truth. She has taken a […]
Goodbye to Bees
Now that autumn is here, with winter on its heels, I observe ever-changing foliage through windows blurred with misty condensation. I think back to liquid sun- drops, pollen-perfumed bumble-kissed summer lullabies, and whisper goodbye to bees until they appear next year. Kim M. Russell, 25th September 2019 My response to Poets United Midweek Motif: Honey […]
The Long Night
They kept vigil throughout the night, watching every movement, every breath, every flicker of dwindling candlelight, shadowy fingers of encroaching death, until the welcome morning light gently caressed the child’s fretting face and soothed away the livid, bright red of fever. All those missed heartbeats crashed together with relief at the sight of the child’s […]
writing in north norfolk 