From the egg-like membrane of her head to the crescent-mooned toes on her feet, her skin was yielding and not synthetic; soft and warm, it responded to my touch. She was programmed to be forever childlike but she possessed an adult logic, a precociousness lacking innocence, as if she knew my every thought; a hint […]
Tag: Open Link Night
October Poems
until their leaves fall trees smoulder with poetry ignited by words Kim M. Russell, 3rd October 2019 A micro poem for National Poetry Day in the UK, also linked to dVerse Poets Open Link Night I’m not sure if this is a haiku or a senryu.
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 […]
Geranium Revisited
It emerges like a blush from variegated leaves, a beauty hidden in a bush beneath overhanging eaves. Its petals radiate scarlet and the whole plant exudes the intoxicating scent of harlot, earthy and a little rude, with citrus zest and peppery hot, a geranium blooming in a pot. Kim M. Russell, 5th September 2019 My […]
Untitled
In a graveyard of crumbling bones, lichen blemishes untended stones, erases brief life stories of the dead waiting for the world to turn back. Their remains have succumbed to worm and maggot, but their souls still dwell in established heartlands and monuments, splashed with light that shifts with overhanging leaves, are touchstones for the afterlife […]
Still
as a cat watching a butterfly or a falling leaf after a restless night of heat twisted in the sweaty sheet until the sky cracked and light crept under my half- closed eyelids now I am still as the leaves and the grass held by morning coolness Kim M. Russell, 25th July 2019 My response […]
Ghazal of Trees
I marvel at the strength and grace of the green sinewy limbs of trees. There’s a frisson of surprise and joy when a flock of birds explodes from trees. I’m hypnotised by the dance of shadow and light when evening thrills through trees. My imagination takes flight when I see silhouettes of storm-blasted trees. I […]
Spring Cleaning
The old trellis is still standing, top-heavy with verdant honeysuckle leaves and studded with dark pink buds. Below the greenery, old woody branches tangle with dusty shadows, hunchbacked hollows of musty undergrowth. Straining against my hands, secateurs crack and break brittle branches, their sharp echoes scattering birds and, deep inside the remains of an old […]
Breakfast Renga
early morning rain the dry sound inside the cabin of oatmeal cooking comfort in heat of a pot […]
Ghost in the Night
It’s a ghost in the night, keeping me awake with its whispering, muttering and sighing, and nudges in my poetic ribs. It pokes me with imagery and ties me up in allegory until I reach for notebook and pen (which I left on the armchair). Empty-handed (in inky midnight darkness) I creep gingerly downstairs. It’s […]
writing in north norfolk 