"Gifted Fingers"
is the Sapphire Winner in Poetry
for the
2022 Jewels in the Queen's Crown
Contest (Sweetycat Press)
Emerging as a poet in 2019 (with the publication on January 2 of three poems in The Write Launch), the poetry of Russell E. Willis has been published or accepted for publication in more than thirty journals and twenty-nine anthologies.
​
In addition to poetry intended for a general audience, Russell has composed an extensive list of Christian poetry based on the Common Lectionary. Much of Russell's poetry, secular and religious, lends itself to musical settings, especially for choral music. Use the Contact section at the bottom of the Home page to inquire about using Russell's poetry as lyrics for your musical compositions, to find out more about the lectionary collection, or to commission a poem or lyric.
The Ocean Has Its Way with Me
Tiny Seed Journal
April 15, 2025
Let Us Rejoice
Love Wins
December 15, 2024
Knowing That You Knew Joy
The Write Launch
September 2024
One Finger, then Two
Open Door Magazine
Final Issue (Summer 2024)
Supermoon
October Hills Magazine
Volume 8, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
Ready for Goodbye?
Lifespan Vol. 12 - Deathj
Pure Slush, 2024
Nano and Pawpaw
Lifespan Vol. 9 - Loss
Pure Slush, 2024
Earth Cries and the Oceans Catch the Tears
The Write Launch: Climate Crisis Issue (Winter 2024)
We Are the Both
The Writes Club
December 30, 2023
Seasons (in four poems)
Cathexis Northwest Poetry
November-December, 2023
This Old Brick Church
The Writer's Club
September 16, 2023
Overheard on a Train
The Write Launch
Issue 77 (November 2023)
Futile Wars
The Metaworker
July 3, 2023
Crystalled Night Redemption
October Hills Magazine
Volume 7, Issue 1 (Spring 2023)
Mere Joy
Love Wins!
March 12, 2023
And They Were Gone
Emblazoned Soul
Issue 1, Winter 2022
Wonder-full
Flora Fiction Literary Magazine
Winter 2022
Monometer
Writers Club
December 10, 2022
Rushdie
Breathe
October 30, 2022
What Do I Say?
Close Up: Poems on Cancer...
Orchard Lea Press, 2022
The Dig
The Write Launch
Issue 66 (October 2022)
Leaf From a Gradual
Osmosis Press
September 11, 20222
Gifted Fingers
Award Winner!
Jewels in the Queen's Crown, Sweetycat Press (2022)
Black Gold's Siren Sound
Family
THE POET (2022)
Ten Is Too Few
Agape Review
June 5, 2022
Potential
Tiny Seed Journal - Seed
May 21, 2022
Villanelle of Grace
Poetry Downtown Rutland
The Paper Poet, April 2022
Beholding a Beholder
Beautiful: In the eye of the beholder, 2022
Poet's Passion
The Writers Club
February 5, 2022
How Dare You
Ekstasis Magazine
December 2021
V
Tiny Seed Journal - Apaja'simk
November 25, 2021
Gentle Kiss of New Year's Eve
The Writers Club
January 8, 2022
Fullness of Time
The Write Launch
Issue 55 (November 2021)
Wiping the Tears of a Child of God
Agape Review
November 1, 2021
It Is My Grief
Adversity
THE POET, Autumn 2021
The Moon It Fell
The Writers Club
October 9, 2021
Repeating History
Breathe
September 2021
With Sighs Too Deep for Words
Agape Review
July 28, 2021
Quest[ion]
Breathe
July 2021
What, But a Fool?
THE POET Magazine - Profiles, 2021
Desert Thunderstorm
THE POET Magazine - Profiles, 2021
Résumé
Desire
Poet's Choice Press (2021)
The Sighing Will Flee Away
Faith, Volume 1
THE POET, 2021
Snake Tree
Tiny Seed Journal: Hibernation, April 21, 2021
Sunburnt Love
Sledgehammer Literary Journal, April 7, 2021
Handful of If
Vermont Public Radio: Be- tween the Lines, April 2021
Peace
The Write Launch
Issue 47 (March 2021)
Meeting Ellie
Close Friends and Relatives
Poet's Choice Press (2021)
Tabletop Musing
Peeking Cat Literary
January 30, 2021
Vermont Mountains
Tiny Seed Journal: Lessons from the Wild, January 4, 2021
Christmas Sky
Christmas
THE POET, December 2020
Sent to our Rooms or Into the Streets
Fruits of our Quarantine
Wingless Dreamer, 2020
Lizzy's Sonnet
Grand Little Things
July15, 2020
Shelter in Place
Corona Global Lockdown
Poet's Choice Press, 2020
And So We Sleep
The Write Launch
Issue 38 (June 2020)
Not Remembered
October Hill Magazine
Spring 2020
Danaus sentiensus
Cathexis Northwest
Nov. 2019
Voices from the Other Room
Vermont's Best Emerging Poets 2019
Just Do It
The Write Launch
Issue 29 (Sept. 2019)
Stillness
The MOON magazine
August 2019
Thank You for the Whispers
Gratitudes: To Our Mothers (2019)
Judge Not By What Makes Us Small
Esthetic Apostle
Feb. 2019
Long Ago, Friday Nights in Texas
The Write Launch
Issue 21 (Jan. 2019)
On the Beach in Maine
The Wave - Kelp Journal
2025
Sighs of Hope
Breathe
December, 2024
Until Tomorrows Are Swallowed by Yesterdays
The Write Launch
September 2024
It Is Magic After All
The Writers Club
June 15, 2024
Do Not Be Afraid
Love Wins
April 2, 2024
Growing Old: Aging Dialectic
Lifespan Vol. 11 - Older
Pure Slush, 2024
That Other Stuff
The Writers Club
February 3, 2024
Reservoir No More
The Write Launch: Climate Crisis Issue (Winter 2024)
Reflections in a Bookstore Window
Books
Truth Serum Vol. 7 (2023)
On the Wing
Tiny Seed Literary Journal
October 1, 2023
If These Walls Could Talk
The Write Launch
Issue 77 (September 2023)
Willful Ignorance
Breathe
August 2023
Standing Too Close to Darkness
Labyrinth, Intangible Magazine, Issue IV (July 2023)
Without a Moral Compass
Breathe
April 2023
Causes Lost or Losing
Writers Club
February 4, 2023
No Two Fires the Same
Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing, Issue 8.4, Winter 2022
Winter Run
Flora Fiction Literary Magazine
Winter 2022
Winter Dusk-Night
swifts & slows
No. 17, December 2022
Sitting in Darkness
Valiant Scribe
October 28, 2022
Her England: A Constant Rain
Poetry Celebrating the Life of Queen Elizabeth II, THE POET
Sudden Gasp
The Write Launch
Issue 66 (October 2022)
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Conjured as Memory
Intangible Magazine
Vol. 3 (2022)
On Character
The Writers Club
August 6 2022
Four Friends at Breakfast
Family
THE POET (2022)
And the Other Two
Agape Review
June 5, 2022
To Dream of Being Sky
October Hill Magazine
Volume 6, Issue 1 (Spring 2022)
Gifted Fingers
Movement: Our Bodies in Action (2022)
New Moon in Winter Dusk-Night Sky
Vermilion - Flash Issue 5
February 25, 2022
From the Very Last Seat
The Writers Club
January 22, 2022
Forever, Always
A Love Letter To ...
Sweetycat Press, 2021
Exhausted Dreams
Breathe
January 2022
Windsong: Grand Opera
The Write Launch
Issue 55 (November 2021)
Abba, I Thank You
Agape Review
November 1, 2021
Remember
The Writers Club
October 23, 2021
The Art of Hate
Breathe
November 2021
Wandering Around
the Truth
The Writers Club
September 25, 2021
Broken Poem?
Adversity
THE POET, Autumn 2021
Sitting in Darkness
Agape Review
July 26, 2021
Live Oak Forest
Tiny Seed Journal: Forest Anthology, July 1, 2021
Patience
Agape Review
July 30, 2021
Glass-Half-Fullness
THE POET Magazine - Profiles, 2021
I Hear the Dawn in Birdsong
THE POET- Poem of the Day
May 26, 2021
Grace to You, and Peace
Faith, Volume 1
THE POET, 2021
Enough of Sadness (A Plea in Villanelle)
Last Leaves, Issue 2, 2021 (page 128)
Unseparate
Intangible Magazine
Vol. 1 (2021)
Stop It!
433
March 4, 2021
Que Será - Mother's Stare
The Write Launch
Issue 47 (March 2021)
Judge Not By What Makes Us Small
Second Chance Lit
Phoenix Project 2/26/21
Scar
Childhood, Volume 1
THE POET, Winter 2020
So, So Small
Christmas
THE POET, December 2020
It's Worth the Mess
Meat for Tea - The Valley Review Vol 14 #4, 2020
Flooding Ol' Jim's Grave
Breathe
November 2020
This Between Time
Frost Meadow Review - Pandemic Poetry 6/24/20
We Never Used to Look
Corona Global Lockdown
Poet's Choice Press, 2020
Attic
The Write Launch
Issue 38 (June, 2020)
Poison Grapes
Snapdragon
Dec. 2019
In That Moment
Vermont's Best Emerging Poets 2019
Four Moves from Now
Meat for Tea - The Valley Review (Vol 13)
Warning
The Write Launch
Issue 29 (Sept. 2019)
No Two Fires the Same [Old Fire]
Tiny Seed Journal
June 2019
Cardinal Impulse
Tiny Seed Journal
Spring 2019
Joy
The Write Launch
Issue 21 (Jan. 2019)
Natural Theology
The Perkins Log , Volume XXX, No. 2 (Spring 1981)
her smile
whiptail journal
February 2025
With Me Between the Lines
The Write Launch
September 2024
Painting the Roses Red
Poems for Wonderland
Hedgehog Press, 2025
Two Skies, Two Nights
October Hills Magazine
Volume 8, Issue 1 (Spring 2024)
Leaping Day
​
Love Wins
February 29, 2024
Pocket Watch
Lifespan Vol. 10 - Retirement
Pure Slush, 2024
Winter's Peak
Open Door Magazine: Frost and Firelight (Winter 2024)
Summer - Memory or Prophecy?
The Write Launch: Climate Crisis Issue (Winter 2024)
To Cradle Hope
Love Wins
November 15, 2023
Amazing Grace
Agape Review
September 28, 2023
Images of Night
The Write Launch
Issue 77 (September 2023)
It Doesn't Give Me Hope
The Writer's Club
July 22, 2023
Smiling at a Crocus in the Snow
Poetry of the Wild Flowers Antholgy, 2023
How Hard It Is to Change My Mind
Writers Club
March 11, 2023
Where Once Lay a Sprawling Lake
Our Changing Earth, Vol. 2, THE POET, Winter 2022
Alone in the Universe?
Writers Club
December 24, 2022
Dance of the Cafeteros
Valiant Scribe
December 15, 2022
Harvested Words
Tiny Seed Journal
October 31, 2022
You
Close Up: Poems on Cancer...
Orchard Lea Press, 2022
Windsong: Solo Flute
The Write Launch
Issue 66 (October 2022)
A Word for That Sound
Cathexis Northwest
October 2022
It's Been a Long Time
The Writers Club
August 20 2022
Light Breaks into New Day
Love Wins
August 5, 2022
Failure of Imagination
Breathe
July 2022
Surf
Love Wins
July 30, 2022
In Birdsong
Poetry Downtown Rutland
The Paper Poet, April 2022
Undisturbed
The Metaworker Literary Magazine March 18, 2022
Discernment
The Writers Club
February 19, 2022
The Path: A Bombed- out Bridge in Irpin
Poetry for Ukraine
The POET, 2022.
Glass Jars at a Cafe
Cathexis Northwest Press
December 2021
Memorial Day
The Writers Club
November 6, 2021
Shadow Play
The Write Launch
Issue 55 (November 2021)
To Sing of the Saints
Agape Review
November 1, 2021
Venetian Masks
The Valiant Scribe
October 22, 2021
Fathomless Pain
Adversity
THE POET, Autumn 2021
Moonflower
Love Wins!
September 12, 2021
Resilience
Love Wins!
August 25, 2021
Were There Not Ten?
Agape Review
July 23, 2021
Known
Friends & Friendship, THE POET, Summer 2021
Requiem for the Selfless
THE POET Magazine - Profiles, 2021
On the Bridge Too Far
THE POET Magazine - Profiles, 2021
Small Courages
The Writers Club
July 3, 2021
Of Little Faith
Faith, Volume 1
THE POET, 2021
hope is not in spite of
American Writers Review 2021: Turmoil & Recovery
In the Between
Intangible Magazine
Vol. 1 (2021)
Chipped Stool
Atherton Review
Vol. 104 (2021)
There Are No Words
The Write Launch
Issue 47 (March 2021)
At the Edge (of a Lake)
Peeking Cat Literary
January 30, 2021
Haiku (a child is to love)
Childhood, Volume 1
THE POET, Winter 2020
Starlight
Christmas
THE POET, December 2020
Voices from the Other Room
Snapdragon
Winter 2020
Sunset
As Above So Below
Issue 6, 2020
Caregiver's Lamentation
Corona Global Lockdown
Poet's Choice Press, 2020
Quality Time with a Spider
Tiny Seed Literary Journal, June 4, 2020
Thalia & Melpomene
The Write Launch
Issue 38 (June, 2020)
Not Mine To Be
Cathexis Northwest
Nov. 2019
Of Joy and Laughter
Vermont's Best Emerging Poets 2019
Life Dunes
The Write Launch
Issue 29 (Sept. 2019)
The Path
The MOON magazine
August 2019
Dream Chaser
Steady Hands: Ode to Our Fathers (2019)
Pondering How Best to Start
Snapdragon
Spring 2019
A Train at Night
The Write Launch
Issue 21 (Jan. 2019)