1 An old man struggles along a mass of meltingtarmac, eerie shapes curling through the wall of heat.The town is otherwise deserted, everyonecowers behind shuttered windows, out of the heat. Under an umbrella the old man mumbles “Rain”. Behind their shutters, the whole town’s praying for rain. 2 By the roadside, every blade of grass […]
Tag: NaPoWriMo
Devouring the Salmon
In all the seven long yearsof fishing for the salmonof knowledge, Finn,each time I tugged your line,you threw me back in,my silver-scaled tail shimmering,pert breasts pearled with water.You had no idea what you were missing. Years passed, I dived and swam,and eventually you snagged the salmon,gave it to your servant, Fionn,with strict instructions: cook it, […]
A Knot Around my Heart
I tighten fast inside your tourniquet,your words a knot around my heart, head exploding withunweathered and untethered light. How did you weave a poem so densein its changing tempo and major to minor shifts that make metighten fast inside your tourniquet? The alliterative tick of verbsand the gaping assonance of bouncing beat evokesunweathered and untethered […]
The Crone Can’t Spell Anymore
As a linguist and English teacher,and even before, as a learner,I never had problems spellingor remembering the meaningof…things. Entering my seventieth year,signs of ageing have appeared.I have begun to trip and stumble,words no longer tumblefrom my fingers. My handwriting’s scribble,as if a dyslexic spider resides in my pen.What I type isn’t what I see on […]
Rising Sun
In dawn’s quietudethe rising sun is a full stop on the horizon,a sizzle from red to orange, rudein its nakedness, all the while risinginto a still slumbering sky.Its light is concentrated in one place,a gold reflection like a cat’s eye,shimmering across the Earth’s face. A rusty vixen trots from behind a tree,the sunlight burnishing her […]
Dawn Parting
Pushing aside the fluidity of morning,you’re aware that outside day is dawning. You’re half asleep, dreams flutter on your lashes,unaware that a brand new day is dawning. Woken by a blackbird singing in the garden,your eyes open to the gentle day’s dawning. Stretching and yawning, you rise and dress,in preparation for another day’s dawning. How […]
Why I am not the Little Dancer of Fourteen Years
To begin with, I am too old.At fourteen, I suppose I couldhave been, but it was too late: Edgar Degas was already dead,I had poetry and rock music in my head,and I wasn’t made of wax or bronze. In adult years, I found hernor far from here,at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich. I was close enough […]
Tea
On my lap,is a warm cat,no cuckoo in the nest,and in my handmy favourite cupof cranberry and raspberry, a fruity burst on the tongue,never unfit for purpose,warmth spreading from mouthto the cockles of my heart,heightening the senses.All around me is calm. I breathe.A poem blooms from the leaves. Kim M. Russell, 6th April 2025 On […]
Moon-Shaped
On a frosty night, stars careen, blow themselves to smithereens, and drift like snow in a symphony of moonlight. Play as if about to cry, suffused with inspiration: thrum strings of a moon -shaped guitar, pluck notes like butterflies, bones and birds. Chords have their own tongue. Words are not required, only the silver tunes […]
The Christmas Painting
He disappearedto who knows where, and I didn’t find out until Christmas Daythat he’d been to buy a painting. The woman looks like me,pushing my old bike through the gate of our red-brick cottage,in my long black coat. Greeting me in the garden, is the goatI always wished I’d had, a cat, crowsand the little […]
writing in north norfolk 