By a pumpkin field there’s an ancient inn,where the wind blows cold and pumpkins grin, and locals are distracted from their ale and rumto stare whenever strangers come. Those who choose to stay for the nightwill wish they hadn’t, with hindsight. Wrapped in sweaty nightclothes’ trammel,one ear listening for the keyhole’s rattle, the naïve and gullible groan and sighat the chilling look in a landlord’s […]
Tag: Tuesday Poetics
Falling into Autumn
There comes a day, betweenspring’s last blackbird concertand the first swift to fly south,when nature takes a breath. Leaves are already yellow,counting days that empty with their falling,their dusty weariness starts to show;tattered, brittle, they know they must go. On a blustery breeze, fragments of sunset fire to trees with a resplendent blushand a sudden […]
Awaiting the End of a Day
I wrap myself in darknessto escape the blindinglight of every day:the cup of early morning tea,the cheerful radio host,and birdsong in the garden,when all I craveis the quiet of the grave. I wait for the end of a daywhen there is no moon,only frosted starsin an otherwise black night,and the quiet flight of batscoming home […]
Catching the Heart off Guard
There was a time whenI knew nothing about life on thecoast: how the shore is buffeted by wind;waves spray salty brine above dunes; andseals follow you, riding thewaves glittering in morning light. Now I know the sound of gulls, they arethe music of the sea, laughing at humans workingon boats. Gulls know the beauty of […]
Storm on the Horizon
“My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retractsto rally againas mine melts away for half a year” from ‘Polar Heart’ by Simon Barraclough Salt marshes fade awaybeneath late August skiestinged with ever more greyand a violet obsession. My love expands for six dark monthswhile yours retracts. Wielding an axe of thunder,a storm skids hooves on dustof a […]
The Marriage of Apple and Cheese
I wash an apple under cold water;drops pearl on its blush like sweat on summerskin, releasing a burst of green scent.I let it dry while cutting slices from a blockof tangy, mature Cheddar cheese, redolentwith the laziness of cows, and then piercethe heart of the orb, cut it into eighths,and place them with the cheese […]
Waiting for Harvest
Rapeseed flowers and summerare no longer yellow, ratherbushy, their pods buffed and brittle.Wheat and emotions bristle,stalks and stubble stiffly sway,growing more bleached every day.We wait, baskets filled with apples,watching as the season dapples,before autumn’s fruity, rosy huestip us into winter blues. Kim M. Russell, 13th August 2024 Image by Julia Kicova on Unsplash It’s Tuesday […]
Ephemerality of Dreams
The memory of a dreamfades like a moonbeamtip-toeing quietly away,or an ephemeral flickeringmoth in a flame, singedin the cruel awakeningat break of day. Kim M. Russell, 6th August 2024 Image by Tim Bernhard on Unsplash This Tuesday at the dVerse Poets Pub we have a guest host for Poetics, Truedessa, who would like us to […]
Grief on my Shoulder
Grief perches on my shoulder,as I remember you perchingon the windowsill of life,not ready to spread your wings,still tethered by earthly things. Our goodbye was brutal, no words,just an unbidden memoryof swimming at the local pool,your strong hands buoying me. There are times, left alone with thoughtsand memories, when griefsneaks up, a vulgar thiefof quietude. […]
Feeding Horses in the Snow
Snow spilled into her boots, over her socks, freezing her toes. She’d risen late, tricked by the shadowy darkness of snow piled up to the gutter. They would be hungry, stamping on frozen ground, their hooves a hollow sound.They couldn’t graze. Her husband had released them before work; by the time she’d crunched through the […]
writing in north norfolk 