It starts with a perfect drop of rain falling from a cloud – and the future arrives just as water, rippling the stillness of a pond, releasing mayflies, dragonflies, and herons that flap their wings like broken umbrellas against spring rain. The gorged river glints, powerful and steadfast on its intrepid journey to the coast, […]
Tag: Weekend Mini Challenge
Snake in the Grass
It is a grass snake. It is curled in autumn leaves. It is autumn leaves. In it is a curled grass snake. A curled autumn snake? Is it? It is leaves in grass! It is curled in grass. It is a snake autumn leaves. Curled leaves in grass. It is a snake. It is autumn. […]
Through the Eyes of a Child
We watch a big blue tractor rumble by, his small body in my arms, straining to see more. Wide eyes spot two cock pheasants down by the gate, he can’t wait; his small hand grabs his mother’s and they’re off on a hunt, and find pheasants, swans, horses and boats – and chickens! We visit […]
Maladroit
My first bra made me self-conscious, all nipples and scratchiness, much like wearing my first bikini (never again!) or my first time skating in hired boots; my first kiss, trying not to crash teeth, dribble saliva or miss target completely; my first (and only) dinner party, or meeting other parents and toddlers when mine was […]
Washday
I remember the massive washing pot sizzling on the stove, steaming soap and shiny bubbles, the dolly, the washboard in the sink. Barely room for two in her tiny scullery, I gripped her apron tightly, behind the comfortable safety of her body, away from the flames flickering from washday spits. Afterwards, on the carmine step, […]
Nibbling the Edge of Summer
I’m a grey squirrel, loveable in my autumn frenzy, gathering sustenance for the coming season. You are content to observe me scampering in gardens and parks, flying from branch to branch, leaping from path to bench, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. You laugh as a scurry of clouds devours the sky, grey squirrels nibbling the azure until […]
The Spilling
Just when I’ve learnt to read the landscape carefully: the flight of birds and growth of plants, the arrangement of furrowed fields and coppiced hedges; now that I’ve mastered its punctuation with quiet glee: the question mark of church, comma of farmhouse, full stop of village and parentheses of trees; nature spills her evening ink […]
Perfumed Question
honeysuckle blooms starlit in the night how does it spill fragrance? Kim M. Russell, 22nd July 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Roads Weekend Mini-Challenge: Pick 2 Prompts, Any Prompts! then Senryū or Elfchen or Cherita I’m catching up with reading and writing after a weekend with my daughter son-in-law and grandson, so […]
Fast News is Like Fast Food
I remember when news wasn’t quite so new – it was events from yesterday, the day or even weeks before. Reporters sent telegrams and pigeons from far away. We waited for news of births, deaths and wars, read a newspaper over a cup of tea or coffee, ate fish and chips from it, smothered it […]
Poetic Pollen
I inhale yellow: pollen dances on sunlight inhabiting air. Two geese overhead; their wing beats stir the cherry pink and freshly bloomed. Pollen-dusted bees zip in and out of flowers – honeyed promises. Kim M. Russell, 20th April 2019 My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Weekend Mini-Challenge, in April: Three Spring Shorts Magaly […]
writing in north norfolk 