I chew my apple slowly, listening to the palinoia of jaws cracking and teeth grinding over and over again. I peer through the gall and wormwood of grime on the window pane at beech leaves fringed with frigid lace. A stain of brilliant orange burns my face, halfway between the curtain and the dipping sun. […]
Tag: Wordle
Screaming in Spring
At crack of sparrow bone,the dawn chorus begins. I moanwhen winged visitors make city spirits soar:birds madly squabbling for a morselfallenfrom the feeder is less a roarand more a scream.Diligent blackbirds turn over voluminous deadleaves by the shedand a robin settles on the narrowchain fence, all atrembleat the zenosyne advance of spring overmorrow. Kim M. Russell, […]
Through the Keyhole
I catch a kudoclasmic glimpse Through the keyhole of life, Like naked bodies in a window, Seen out of the corner of the eye From the top deck of a bus, Or a timid sparrow in a shaft of light. I somaticize aberrant emotions, Electrified with pain. An aching wisdom tooth, A tightened deadbolt, I […]
Awakening
Like a pupa I struggle from my bed, still wrapped in the pleonasm and images of butterfly dreams. Pinned to the mattress, trapped by a searing ray of sunlight poking its nose through the curtains, I grab the triptych of the day and pull it open. Mice nibble at my toes – I ward them […]
Through the Monastic Garden
Trudging the path between the yew trees, Those harbingers of death and sorrow, Monks’ bare feet crush the dross of berries, Poisonous, red froth between their toes. Psittacism of holy mantras Below the prickle of green branches Drowns out the twittering of sparrows, The songs of blackbird, thrush and finches. The dull clapper of the […]
Parapraxis
By the meagre spark of a cigarette, The scapegrace’s gang was always well met: Mealy mouthed and nicotine stained, They gathered by night but never by day. Haunting the queasy quarters of the city, The dark back alleys and the not so pretty Gelatinous overspill of late night bars, They dodged dustbins, drunks and stolen […]
Sanctuary
The promontory, a bare stone bluff, lifts its foetal dinosaur hump above the insular pub tucked into a crumbling crack in the leavings of prehistory. Under a china sky, a waymarked trail knits together threads of hills, field walls and pasture ridges, barns, farms and villages, all muddied with winter. Boots gouge rocks, imprinting scars, […]
Crime Passionnel
The sound of knife on fabric, Like a jackboot on glass, Echoed the stroke of impatience Around the tram terminal, Where the suspicious eyes of the rum cull Spotted the perfumed familiar gloss Of his tragic, unfaithful mistress In a passel of prospective lovers. On her face, a blue and purple discolour As she lay bleeding […]
Amphetamine Alice
She had a greed for speed, amphetamine avarice, barefaced wildness and her name was Alice. Her sandpaper voice was a relentless screech, a tidal swash and swill that echoed down the beach. Alice tripped through life in a sanguine reverie, believing that the fourth rule would keep her spirit free. She didn’t give zilch for […]
Edelweiss
He captured her heart with his ludic smile that shone like a lantern. He cursed her heart, flambéed in edelweiss, until it crumbled in his hands. He tossed her heart, the irrevocable ashes, birdseed descendent on winter wind. Now he has no heart, looks askance at birds and friendly scarecrows, gnashing his alcohol-rotten teeth. Kim […]
writing in north norfolk 