don’t go swimmingin moon-stained seasif you dowatch out for monsters skimmingwaves and divingdeep below your feetonly to emerge and eatthemhowever feel freeto find which shapeyou want to bebut don’t assumeyou can comparewith the stars and the moonstay grounded Kim M. Russell, 7th April 2026 This Tuesday at the dVerse Poets Pub, Dora is hosting Poetics […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
Doughty
Among globules of hail a single purpleflower stands resilient to the chill: a grape hyacinth shivering amongdrooping daffodils. They bloomed too soon, their yellow hurrahs loud and blatant,nodding and dancing in March winds. When the sun arrived, stirring our winter-frozen hearts, we peeled off a few layers, exposed skin like petals unfurling,only to feel the […]
Padraig’s Snake
What ifa green snakehas lived inthe green grass all these years, despite changes to climate, hidden in the richness of its own colour,even whenfamine struck? Emerald,undulating and coiling but never striking, living its best life while Paddy is celebrated – he didn’t do a proper job. Perhaps he knew,thought he’d test faith, spice up mythology […]
March Morning in North Norfolk
Norfolk skies,broad and grey,weave anthracite clouds. A boat glides by,steel river wash,intrepid in its wake. The day drawsits morning breath,draws cackling roosting crows, draws mistacross greening fields,landscape’s waking womb. Kim M. Russell, 10th March 2026 This Tuesday, Dora is our host for Tuesday Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, and we are embodying the landscape. […]
non-sentences
less of the gloom a sunny afternoonno relentless windy roar no torrential downpourrandom non-sentences unwhole elevations of the soulre-arrangement of the mind’s furniture fragmented but purepeacefully ferment a magical momentconjuration of verse poetic conjuressmall comforts in lyrical spaces phrasal interfacesKim M. Russell, 3rd March 2026 Melissa is hosting the dVerse Poets Pub Tuesday Poetics this […]
Cinderella’s Lament
You might think I cry –it’s just dust in my eyefrom sweeping –I should have been writing –and my sisters aren’t so uglyif I squint through tears. They don’t have a poeticbone in their bodies,not even one that’s romantic,creative or artistic,which makes me wonder,how are we related? They never wash up,do the laundry, sweepthe floor, […]
The Non-Taste of Tea
On my lapI feel a warm cat,and in my handmy favourite cupof cranberry and raspberry. But there is nofruity burst on the tongue,just heat in my mouththat no longer spreadsto the cockles of my heart.No heightening of the senses.No calm. I hear myself breathe.I watch a poem bloom from the leaves. Kim M. Russell, 12th […]
Losing the Sounds of Spring
Vowels ploughed into other: opened ground.The mildest February for twenty yearsIs mist bands over furrows, a deep no soundVulnerable to distant gargling tractors. Seamus Heaney In the north, the Plough is ridden by the moonand frost continues to clench the earth.On this early morning walk there are no words,no lines from puffs of frozen […]
Dreams of a Samurai
I dreamed of a virile lord,a swirling spectre of berry redwith a thick brushof ebony hair and beard,and lethally sharpened swords,skilled on the battlefieldwith weapons and with words. I was the model of modestfemininity, a passionatebut submissive lover,a future wife waitingat the gate for the samuraiof my wildest dreamsand a bed not quite so empty. […]
Shivering
From the classroom windowthe spangled playground sparkled,criss-crossed with blackbird braille,a whirlissimo of fat flakesas if blown from polar fur. Come home time,there were two or threefeet of snow and a magicallyvanishing world as the vanilla stormstole brown and green. I was five years old, my motherwas at home nursing a sick toddler,so the teacher told […]