I get up early while you’re still asleep; avoiding the cats, I creep down the stairs, try not to wake you with my leaden feet, stumble over work boots and into chairs. The bathroom floor’s cold, and the toilet seat, the sink is laced with toothpaste and stray hairs. The cat litter smells and they […]
Tag: NaPoWriMo
A Walk on the Cutting Edge
I pull bracken fronds through fingers on the edge of a freshly shaven playing field, where cut grass lingers a tinny ping disturbs the aromatic stillness you reach into a pocket for your phone sand martins wheel, chiffchaffs dart through twigs, the woods whisper check the screen, smile and take a selfie tap the keys […]
What if…
I play chicken with Jupiter I might end up suspended in the teeth of a howling gale anchored legs straight arms stretched leaning into cosmic wind dodging lightning flashes among ammonia clouds my hands clamped over my ears at each rumble of thunder we might even play hoopla with Jupiter’s gossamer ring Kim M. Russell, […]
Night Hawks
Tall buildings shadow pavements, squinting their windows against light that spills from an insomniac Manhattan diner. Anonymous at a timeless hour, customers sit at the cherry wood counter with dirty coffee cups and a hankering for cherry pie, sugar to take the sour edge off a night of cigarettes and alcohol. Smoky thoughts curl […]
Walcott Sea Front at 7 a.m.
The heavy tide inhales wind and gasps chilly salty spray, tangles tongues with rain, spattering the windscreen. Gulls mourn bitterly and in the safety of the car a voice on the radio speaks in tones hushed and slow about the death of a new-born. The car behind sounds its horn. Kim M. Russell, 12th April […]
Ruminations on Writing
I was recently reminded I’m getting old, a greying guest of nature, mother and wife. In an attempt to solve the riddle of my soul, I gnaw and chew life out of life. Stiff fingers falter, they fumble, writing is a spidery scrawl on a page; as I peck at the keyboard, words tumble, I […]
Distance
Only a phone call away, only a bus or train ride, I know you can drive, and still you are distant. I bought you sweets on the way home from school, was thrown into space by a motorbike and still ran up all those flights of stairs to the top floor and along the balcony […]
Friday Night at the Cardiff Novotel
(after Philip Larkin’s ‘Friday Night in the Royal Station Hotel) Light spreads brightly downwards from the wide- screen television between high windows that face the car park, where taxi headlights flare. At the bar, men in short-sleeved t-shirts flash tattoos, down beery dregs and, glancing at the score, jostle in a noisy exit. Receptionists issue […]
M4 Westbound
A slow roll forward. Then a grinding halt. Afternoon is coming to an end and we are still hemmed in by metal. A slow roll forward. Then a grinding halt. Not a sign of an accident and no breakdown on the hard shoulder. A slow roll forward. Then a grinding halt. No emergency vehicles or […]
Ode to a Hug
There are times, left alone with thoughts and memories, when up sneaks grief, a vulgar thief of quietude, squeezes salt and tears from a freezing heart. And there you are, warm as blood, enveloping stony skin, thawing emotions locked within. Kim M. Russell, 2017 Image of statue on King’s Cross Station found on Pinterest On […]
writing in north norfolk 