she aroseout of soil and mud all but swept from shimmering lightPandora, womanof flesh and blood her heart the slow beat of the forestnaïve and curiousbeautiful and mysterious whisper of a tree- top windwith only a stopperedjar of clay to her name imbued with nectar of the godshappy to be given lifeto become a wife […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
The City I Grew Up In
We grew up in flatswith too many stairs to the top,and yet I ran up them, braveand unafraid, morescared of the piss-scented liftthat always stoppedbetween floors. Accompanied by the roarof traffic speeding alongLondon Road, I’d pick my waybetween parked cars,where dads smoked,and mums called kids in to teafrom balconies on the upper floors. Plimsolled feet […]
Robin Prints Across the Page
They say that a robin is a sign,a visit from a loved onefrom the other side. Chill January breathhaunts me on the anniversaryof my mother’s death, her favourite bird follows meround the garden,cocks its head and eyes me, leaves invisible spoorsacross a blank page,a love letter of sorts carving a pain in my heart,lingering grief […]
We are not turnstones
It is on such days as thesethat I love to be beside the sea, watching rollers hit the shore,Nature’s power, nothing more than waves and wind, and turnstonestripping and skipping among fishbones, seaweed and shells, not unlike Sisyphus,pushing, shoving, turning – showing us not how our lives must be, but howtenacity can get us from […]
Why a Pear Tree?
Why would I bein a pear tree?On the first dayof Christmas, too.I am a farm bird,a runner in fields,and wouldn’tappeal to you.I’m not as brightas a pheasant,and not quiteas cute as a quail;my body is grey,but my face is pleasant,blushing reddish, the same as my tail. Kim M. Russell, 12th December 2023 Image by Bruce […]
Clair de Lune
The lightest note breaksspace with crystal notes and takesmy breath away, like snowflakes spinning around my free-falling soul. Piano keysreverberate and echo in D, cascading angst-filled arpeggiosin a swelling tide of melancholia,a swirling musical oceanus. A spree of naked notes delightspeaking into rolling notesof sadly serious moonlight. And when it’s over, silence glistenswith spectral music […]
Give me a poem
give me a poem that tinkleslike goldfinches or thundersin a moor-gallop that beats like the wings of geeseor, on an early spring morning, dropsand drips like icicles that whistles in a windy aspen groveor stirs warm air like lacewingsand buzzing bees give me a poem that tumblesthe heart or ripplesthe soul please Kim M. Russell, […]
Avocado
The alligator pear, or avocado,has a green, leathery rindand flesh that’s soft and blanduntil you add jalapeño,a handful of chopped tomato,and a squeeze of lime. Mash it with a fork,add a splash of tabascoand you will concurthat the avocadomay have skin like an alligator,but it’s sweet and creamy as a pear. Kim M. Russell, 14th […]
Buckets
I would love to return to the seasideon a sixties time machine ride,where my sister and I used to playwith our plastic buckets and spades. I would feel the sand between my toes,watch the waves crash on the stones,and run down to the sea to fill my bucketwith water to pour in our sandcastle’s moat. […]
On reading Heaney’s ‘Gifts of Rain’
The recent rain has left puddles,cars shower walkers with chilly wavesand tractors churn up mud. Burst riverbanks leave us in a muddle,fields and gardens lost, animals to save,as we wrangle with the flood. On the other side of the world it’s dry,all moisture wrung out, no dripping taps,just an arid cough of dust. There’s not […]
writing in north norfolk 