In the days of physical elasticity,instant sparks of electricityand youthful hunger,whether in daylight, twilight or moonlight,lips and teeth tended to tattoo and collide on the soft skin of the underside. Now I love to tangle in the copper hairon forearms, chest and belly, wherewinter frost has started to appear,but it is on the soft skin […]
Tag: Poets and Storytellers United
Ox Head
They said he was untameable and afraid of his own shadow,branded skittish with an ox head,none could soothe his rodeo. The gentling of Bucephalus began with the gentle whispersand flourished into fraternitywithout saddle, reins or spurs. They camped under starless skies,future king and Thessalian steed,faced the sting of metaland watched men bleed. Too many men and horses […]
Starting Point
So varied is the starting point,the foundation of a poem:sometimes a thought, a word,image, phrase, feeling, sound,or something you have foundin a different writer’s wall,the brickweave of their soul. Kim M. Russell, 27th August 2020 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #34: Foundation This Wednesday, Rommy asked us to consider the word […]
Rewilding a Soul
When she opened the cage, she felt bars beneath her fingers, a metallic chill that lingers and almost stops the heart. Her soul perched on the edge among shadows of danger, liberty felt so much stranger and the landscape was stark. The taming had taken its joyfulness, silenced its song and left it helpless. Its […]
Hunger
is a baby bird,a swallowscreaming for dinner,its beak wide open,a black holeready to swallowits mother whole. The raging acid oceangripes and grumbles,piranha enzymes frenziedby the food that tumblesdown the open gullet. But oh, the satisfactionof the elephantine belly,the joy of different flavoursthat coat the tongueand tease the gustatory cortex,a sweet and savoury tangobefore the chemistry […]
Smiling in the Sun
Early afternoon sun dapples the half-raised window blind, the part of my desk where the computer mouse sits on its mat, and my cold cranberry tea, ruby red and sparkling. Outside, crimson-berried honeysuckle and wilted orange lilies, wrinkled and raggedy, dance on the breeze, and a butterfly flutters by, tempted by potato plants and courgette […]
On the anniversary of your death
Only a few days away, and nine years on, I recall the luminous hope that opened like a flower in my heart, when you opened your eyes. Death had not got its way. You perched on the windowsill of life, not yet ready to spread your wings, still tethered by earthly things. Hope was still […]
A Metaphor Senryu
in love and conflict edit the mood with rhythm and punctuation Kim M. Russell, 29th July 2020 My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #30: Writing as a Metaphor for Living This Wednesday, Magaly is hosting from New York, where things are hot, hoping we are ready to play with cool words. For […]
Ghost Cats and Magpies
Will’s eyes followed the shadow while his fingers untwisted the last ribbon. He took off after it, swiftly but stealthily, slipping behind tree trunks and bushes, not once looking behind him to check if everything was as it should be. The shadow was moving away from the green, towards the other end of the village, […]
Poetichor
The scent of a poem can drive me to distraction, like spores from a page of mildewed putrefaction, accumulated fluff and dust from under the bed, or the grey and blue mould on a slice of old bread; sometimes it’s cherry blossom dancing in trees, an explosion of honeysuckle on a summer breeze, a meadow […]
writing in north norfolk 