Tag: Poets and Storytellers United

Back Under the Willow

Time passed under the willow. The weather witch did not return and the stone goblin, believed by the villagers to be a sleeping gnome, was still propped against its trunk. Over time, dogs and cats sniffed at him, robins perched on his head, but no magpies visited. He soon disappeared beneath a clump of brambles […]

Without Lips

The fabric’s stale and hot with breath, slightly damp and beginning to chafe, but alluring with its pattern of pink, full-petalled and sensitive to touch. The eyes do it, dark depths above the matching mask. In a moment of pandemic madness they come together, flower on flower, blossom into a kiss without lips, and he […]

The Willow Tree Goblin

Long ago, a goblin lived beneath a willow, where daylight was green, and leaves rustled in the breeze. His name was Willow – Will for short. He was friends with a magpie that landed on the topmost branch each day to share gossip. One day, as Will watched a robin build a nest, the tree […]

Almost (a love story)

almost burned her fingers as she watched a flame consume a match almost to its end almost cried at the pain that didn’t come but the tears were welcome anyway almost fell in love with the man who struck the match that lit her (almost) last cigarette almost kissed him on the lips before the […]

A Moment

I took a real moment, not a virtual corona one, to step out into the garden, under cover of the darkest night. White noise and rustle of leaves – the only human sound was the distant hum of tyre on tarmac, a delivery truck perhaps. It was quiet and so dark I could not see […]

Rediscovering the Night

Lying smug and snug in the arms of the countryside, I can’t recall the sound of the city’s background song, but hope, in this shutdown pandemic, that worldwide respect spreads like galaxies of stars for the long- forgotten night noises: the whirring wings of geese returning and the owls’ reviewing the day in the trees. […]

Nature Haiku to Ease the Pain

errant porpoises trapped inside the harbour wall the sun’s a beachball call of the harbour nets strung between the boatsheds sparkling with sea salt avalanche of fish tumbling down the harbour wall no more plastic bags Kim M. Russell, 17th April 2020 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads NaPoWriMo Day 17 Play it […]

Unblurring the View

Days blur into each other. The view from the window seems to stay the same: green leaves pattern blue sky, occasionally a cloud drifts or a helicopter murmurs by, a tractor trundles down a lane, sometime later it returns again. A knock at the door relieves the mundane Monday repetition, a gloved delivery with distance […]

Sullen

After countless years and so many sullen stars, we yearn for sparkling seas, fast running rivers, snowy mountain tops and vast green plains on our home planet beyond the moon. We have longed to escape the monotones of this metal box: utilitarian grey and brown, the tasteless sustenance, our heads blown by shifting body fluids, […]