Field Fire

stubble still crackles burnt fields quiver their dry voices whisper in devastation’s backwind blackened trees shiver letting fly blackened bark and leaves – a whirlwind of charcoal and dust Kim M. Russell, 26th November 2018 My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Fire up that Creativity, also linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday […]

Once

Once upon a North Sea cliff, fragile skeletons chalky white and ghosts of spiralling ammonites exploded by the waterside. Teased by waves and torn by tides, the behemoth spilled its insides: with salty gush and rocky rumble, the towering cliffs began to tumble. Strewn among the shells and pebbles, bleached by sun and washed by […]

Necklace of Lights

An old-fashioned red London bus takes me back to childhood’s sleepy night-ride home from my grandparents house: sitting between Mum and Dad, bare legs on fuzzy seats, folding concertinas of paper tickets, hypnotised by the perfume of exhaust, rumble of engine, and the window’s black and empty gaze. I believed the stars – obscured by […]

Reflections on Rotten

Lemon brashness softens and blooms into the livid greens and blues of a mouldy citrus bruise. Once it was firm and glossy, oiled with fruity essence; it has become its own reflection, silently exhaling spores that dance a tango with a fading summer scent. Kim M. Russell, 16th October 2018 My response to dVerse Poets […]

Washing Day

I can still smell soap bubbles in the scullery, steamy clean and floating through my early years; my grandmother’s hands red and hot, tea-towels boiling in the biggest pot as I turned the handle of the wringer, reminded always to ‘Mind your finger!’ I remember sitting on the back step while she raised the line […]

Netsuke

Snug in the palm of my hand, fingers curled and caressing its smoothness, exploring miniature scales on back and fanned tail, tiny teeth in roar of mouth, the dust-filled creases of its head, flaming copper burnished with the faint scent of boxwood, my little finger fits the curve of its body, feels the kanji carved […]