Little tiger Mojo won’t go beyond the corkscrew willow, while I wander to the end, to the garden gate, lean against the warm wood and watch a boat bob, tethered by a frayed rope that clink clink clinks. The long grass beneath the silver birch is a mass of dots, forget-me-nots and pink weeds the […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
Strains of Billie
It’s a quarter past three on a Sunday morning. Darkness sits heavy as a blanket. It’s waiting for first light to seep through night and gently lift it. Strains of Billie Holiday curl into a hug of raspberry tea steam from my favourite mug. The cats have been fed and husband is tucked up in […]
The Quality of Finger-Painting
Finger-painting is the quality of not worrying about the mess on your clothes, hands and face, and sharing the happiness of the child with whom you’re finger-painting. Finger-painting is being a cave-dweller, doing what comes naturally, while unleashing your inner Picasso, Kandinsky or Miro, even throwing a little paint like Pollock. Finger-painting rediscovers the child […]
Riverbank
The riverbank beavers a hustle and bustle once spring is underway. A wagtailing wind tugs the last of the catkins throughout the month of May. Warblers and dippers fly over rivers that surge and swell with rain ‘til the sun otters out with a spiral of sparkles – the river’s alive again. Kim M. Russell, […]
Mary Alice Muted
She is muted, not just in colour.He has painted her in hues of dolour.and taken away her voice.I wonder, had it been her choice to find herself so portrayedin shades of violet, green and greyto the modern art world’s eyes,to be so closely scrutinised, or did she trust the artist’s view.Lacking softer tones of blue,I […]
Writing Freedom’s Wings
The pen was the key to the poet’s voice; the guards took it, and with it the poet’s choice. But they could not take unspoken words, could not stop images forming into nouns and verbs, which became feathers and then wings. Justice knows why the caged poet sings. Kim M. Russell, 16th May 2023 Image […]
Curators of the Night
They are busy on the night shift,dusting off star drift,polishing up the moon in all its forms.(It’s always being tarnished by space storms.) The library’s astronomerscans the sky for astral bodies, gathersmoons, and stars that fall to Earth,and shelves them until their monthly rebirth. They lend them out too,to people like me and you,romantics who […]
Sett for Life
Don’t badger me about my burrow, it keeps me safe from rain and cold, from dangerous predators, humans too; my ancestral home is centuries old. My forebears’ powerful claws dug deep a sturdy network of chambers and tunnels, a realm with a semi-circular keep beneath the hills and wooded dingles, where I gather grass and […]
Sonnet for Joni
One sunny April afternoon, I wanderedonto the edge of your atmosphereand devoured your records. I meanderedfrom old songs to new, from there to here, and found I could not choose. No favouritefor me. If I could mix all the melodies,all the lyrics, inhale your music, savour itlike spring air, I might forgive the parodies, the […]
View from an Open Window
No curtains in this humble room,no fabric flapping on the breeze;a smudge of smoke in the distant gloomand a street devoid of birds and trees. The clouds are tinged with morning pink,a forecast of downpours yet to come;a thought to make my poor heart sinkand resolve to spend the day at home. This view of […]
writing in north norfolk 