Bitter truths were burning jewels ...

When Becky Unthank and Adam Holmes sang Strange Sky my eyes filled with tears - 

I remembered the piles of emptied suitcases I'd seen in a dark place - 

I saw the fleeing people become birds - 

I heard the wind which blows nations from the earth - 

21.00

Friday 28 October 2016

Watching Flit

The Lighthouse 

Poole

Drinking Moonlight ...

I'll have a Moonlight I said - 

Jay's trilby brushed the ceiling - 

Soon there would be music in the room with the driftwood chair - 

We sat where cider drinkers had once sat - 

I felt their bawdy ghosts brush against my arm - 

Jay handed me a heavy dizzying glass - 

Bridget remembered an evening in Deia - 

A boy had played a violin above a warm tideless sea - 

21.00

Saturday 30 October 2016

The Square and Compass

Worth Matravers

Dorset 

Waiting for Jay and Bridget ...

I'm waiting for Jay and Bridget - 

I'm listening to The Trailer Trash Tracys - 

I remember when I first saw Jay and Bridget - 

They are a golden couple Richard said - 

We lifted the crate of Gales HSB out of the boot of the MG Magnette - 

Music was playing - 

The summer moon cast shadows in the garden - 

We gathered our memories, even then, like fish in a precious net - 

15.37

Saturday 28 October 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Richard in Vientiane...

Richard is now in Vientiane, drinking coffee in the Parisien Cafe -

I imagine him, writing a haiku, remembering the journey through the night - 

He finds an image, writes it down with a slender pen - 

He's living his story, page by page - 

His shadow crosses the world, touches the windfalls under the apple tree - 

17.52

Thursday 27 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

My watch had lost its meaning ...

A mist was rising as twilight came - 

The valley was silent save for our low voices - 

The dark river flowed noiselessly through the water meadows - 

Familiar trees became strange shapes - 

Sheep grazed in mysterious fields -

The eyes of deer were antique jewels - 

My watch had lost its meaning - 

Each step we took was one further into a shining world - 

18.00

Tuesday 26 October 2016

East Stoke

Highwood

Dorset 

Arriving at the centre ...

I'm driving you as if you were the Queen I'd told my mum - 

We were on our way to the day centre - 

White vans overtook us - 

Middle Park Way bisected the estate - 

The sun shone in a pale sky - 

My dad sat in the front - 

There's a lot of cars he said -

We were amongst the first to arrive at the centre - 

My mum went to her chair - 

Hello John - Hello Peggy Michelle said -

09.07

Monday 24 October 2016

Malmsbury Lawn Centre

Havant

 

Counting small coins ...

We left my dad reading The Soldier's Return - 

The precinct was empty - 

Early evening drinkers watched TV football in The Parchment Makers - 

A homeless man lay in the doorway of Clarks - 

He's taken off his shoes Anne said - 

The duvet hardly covers him - his arms are bare - 

She bent over him, speaking softly - she handed him a note - 

Buy yourself a breakfast she said - 

We walked on, past Poundland - 

A log fire warmed us in The Old House At Home - 

Later, in the soft bed, I imagined being invisible - 

I saw myself, under a cold starless sky - 

I'd look up at the floodlit tower of St Faiths - 

I'd feel my bones dissolve into air - 

20.30

Saturday 23 October 2016

Havant 

The borders of my world seemed set to last forever ...

This afternoon, my mum swept the patio - 

She swept the tiny scraps of moss onto the lawn - 

I remembered helping her clean the house in Palmyra Road - 

I'd held the Hoover nozzle as though it was a Dan Dare ray gun - 

Whiskers, the ginger tomcat, lolled upon his couch of newspapers -  

For a treat, I ate ice cream whilst watching Tin Tin before the news - 

I watched the rocket head towards the moon - 

The borders of my world seemed set to last forever - 

13.05

Sunday 23 October 2016

Staunton Road

Havant 

No they won't she said ...

Yesterday evening, my mum got out of bed - 

Anne found her downstairs in the lounge - 

It's night time Anne said - all those people you see in that place you go to - they'll all be asleep now -

My mum looked out the windows into the darkness - 

No they won't she said - 

20.20

Saturday 22 October 2016

Staunton Road

Havant 

They wore the bright disguise of youth ...

It's the second week of the Purbeck Film Festival - 

Tomorrow The Rex will screen Brief Encounter - 

Gentle cineastes will hear Celia Johnson say I felt suddenly quite wildly happy -

I remembered watching the film on Sunday Afternoon TV with Anne - 

We were with my parents, in the lounge of memory - 

They'd seen the film in the year of its release -

I imagined them, queueing outside a cinema with an opulent foyer - 

They wore the bright disguise of youth - 

The sky was full of stars - 

13.12

Friday 21 October 2016

The Rex

Wareham 

Dorset

Cafe con leche in the gardens ...

I sipped cafe con leche in the gardens of the Fundacio Pilar I Joan Miro -

Inside the gallery, a reed slim girl stood before the radiant paintings - 

Pine trees shaded the gardens - 

Cacti cast starfish shaped shadows - 

I still remembered the unsettling sculptures - 

I felt the sun warm my skin - 

Beyond the terracotta roof tiles of the hillside houses I saw the tideless sea - 

I put down my coffee cup - 

There were yet more strange wonders to see - 

12.18

Friday 14 October 2016

Fundacio Pilar I Joan Miro

Palma

Majorca

The white taxi ...

We left for the airport at four in the morning - 

I'd hardly slept - 

The white taxi was on time - 

I held my passport in my hands - 

Clouds hid the waning moon - 

Palma was a dark jewel -  

Is tranquilo said the driver - 

I looked up at the waiting sky - 

Soon dawn would colour the clouds - 

0430

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Palma

Majorca

It is my home, it is where I want to be ...

We sat at the table as though we were cabelleros - 

Tito poured out the wine - 

Maruja ladled sopa mallorquina into our bowls - 

There were paintings in golden frames upon the walls - 

That night I dreamed of noble horses, capo narcos, sicarios and Joan Miro shaking Picasso's hand - 

Every time the moon was full said Tito - we'd ride from eight in the evening to eight in the morning - 

I can hear my friends now - where are you Tito they say - 

Everyday I think of Venezuela - 

It is my home, it is where I want to be - 

19.39

Monday 17 October 2016

At Tito and Maruja's

Palma 

Majorcs

You would ride so smoothly ...

In the hallway of Tito and Maruja's apartment, it's always dark and cool - 

Outside, we have to put on our sunglasses - 

We swim out to the yellow buoy in the rocky cove - 

We lie afterwards, pearled with seawater, upon the hot sand - 

I think of the framed photographs in the hallway - 

There's one of Tito, younger, before his exile, on a ranch in Venezuela - 

You could read a book on that horse he told us - 

You would ride so smoothly - like sitting upon a sofa - 

12.00

Monday 17 October 2016

Palma 

Majorca

Tender ghosts in the shining streets ...

The church was just as I remembered it - 

It still rose up into the sky like a great cloak of stone - 

We sat where we'd sat before in the pavement cafe -  

I remembered bright stars above the square, the yellow moon above the garden -

The town was filled with tender ghosts - 

They were of ourselves, bright eyed, walking through the shining streets - 

11.36

Sunday 16 October 2016

Plaza de la Constitucio

Soller

Majorca

Artless music ...

I opened the green shutters - 

Dreams still filled my head -  

Anne lay asleep on the blue bed - 

The new sun was a golden promise - 

Later, Maruja bought us some flowers in a glass - 

Their bright shapes were like artless music, simple, calming, pure - 

10.24

Saturday 15 October 2016

Calla Nova

Palma

Majorca

His brushes remembered the charmed touch of his fingers ...

The gallery was a bright labyrinth above the sea - 

Beyond the sunlit gardens were hillsides dark with pine - 

The pictures on the pristine walls were of creatures or spirits from dreams, each one beautiful and strange - 

*

The artist's studio was filled with unfinished works - 

His ghost lingered in the old house - 

Its thick walls were still marked by his charcoal - 

His brushes remembered the charmed touch of his fingers -

12.12

Friday 14 October 2016

The Joan Miro Foundation 

Majorca

The cathedral ...

This morning we visited the cathedral - 

I'd visited it before, when we'd taken a house in Soller - 

I remembered the journey to Palma by train, the glimpses of pine trees from the wooden carriage, the sun above the mountain, the taste of wine upon my tongue - 

Memories, Apollinaire said, are like hunting horns, dying on the wind - 

Entering, once more, the vast murmuring space, I heard the far off music - 

12.30

Thursday 13 October 2015

The Cathedral 

Palma 

At Tito and Marujo's ...

I'm sitting on the balcony eating olives - 

Tito and Marujo told us about their lives - 

They left Venezuela when Chavez came to power -

Their dog is called Canelo - 

That means Cinnemon said Anne - 

We swam in a rocky cove - 

I'm looking at the nearly full moon in the twilight sky - 

A warm wind is blowing in from the sea - 

There are white yachts in the marina below - 

Anne's singing A Change is Gonna Come - 

19.26

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Calla Nova

Palma 

Majorca 

The waiting jets ...

I've packed the small bag Marylyn gave me - 

Already I can see the early morning sky - 

I can feel the cold air against my face - 

We'll drive through the still sleeping town - 

I'll listen to the murmuring radio - 

The jets will be waiting on the runway - 

21.38

Tuesday 11 October 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

A new muse ...

Tomorrow, Richard will seek truthful words above the clouds - 

The white jet will carry him above the tongue tied world - 

A new muse will greet him in a teeming city - 

The warm air will be scented with poems - 

Soft voices will be heard in twilight gardens - 

Beautiful flowers will follow the moon - 

19.20

Monday 10 October 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The sky is so lovely ...

This morning, I took my mum out for a walk - 

Take her out Chris my dad had said - don't forget the stick - 

The people will be round in a moment my mum said - 

She thought it was a Day Centre day - 

It's Sunday I said, as we passed the Catholic Church - everyone's still asleep -

My legs aren't tired my mum said - 

She held my arm - 

Is there someone behind us ? she asked - 

No I said - there's no one there - 

Front gardens had been paved over for cosseted SUVs - 

My mum looked up - 

This sky is so lovely she said - 

9.30

Sunday 9 October 2016

West Street

Havant

"Will they join the dots" ? ...

All morning, I listened as townspeople and visitors alike signed the petition - 

What? - they're moving it ? - why ? - why are they moving it ? - my son got sepsis - the Poole A & E  saved his life - they stabilised him - why are they doing it ? - 

I've got a pacemaker - it went wrong on me - I live in Hamworthy - I was out walking in the country park, and I started feeling ill - everything went blurry - but they got me to A & E in time - why are they doing it ? - 

I found a nice BnB, up near The Grand - I won't have to sleep in the streets tonight - good luck to you with what you're doing - 

I'm a Labour Man, from Cheshire - they've always helped me - 

I've just come from the Maternity Unit - my first grandson - it's a good place - why are they closing it ? - 

I have to carry my medicine in my bag - look - paramedics have taken me there five times - the A & E department's saved my life five times - what shall I do if it closes ? - 

It's cost cutting is'n it ? - that's why they're doing it - it's happening everywhere - they won't listen - 

Lorie smiled - 

Will they join the dots? she asked -

11.30

Saturday 8 October 2016

Swanage

Dorset 

I'd cast a richly coloured shadow ...

When I was nine years old, I'd talk to our neighbour, Mr Mortimore -

He'd been in the Tank Corps - 

Upon his forearms were mysterious tattoos, blue swirling shapes lost amongst the veins - 

He'd tell me about the war in the desert - 

His garden shed was filled with strange machines - 

He smelled of oil and sand - 

The memory came back me in West Street - 

I was walking past The Studio - 

I gazed inside - 

A bearded man was inking a serpent upon a girl's outstretched arm - 

How would it be, I wondered, if I had tattoos - 

Under my shirt there might be a crescent moon - 

My daughter's names would be written upon my skin - 

Oak leaves might entwine my wrists - 

I'd cast a richly coloured shadow - 

14.51

Friday 7 September 2016

Standing outside The Studio tattoo parlour 

West Street

Wareham

Dorset 

Invisible figures ...

I looked out across the bay - 

An easterly wind blew twilight clouds across the sky - 

.

The small seaside town was like an empty house - 

Fishermen on the pier waited for darkness -

Invisible figures passed me on the streets -

18.21

Thursday 7 October 2016

Swanage

Dorset 

 

He watches rooks dance ...

Every year, we have our chimney swept - 

Now's the time says Sooty the Sweep - 

He smiles his ancient gentle smile - 

I watch whilst he uncovers the secrets of last winter's fires - 

Each room is filled with the fragrance of dark ashes - 

He tells us stories of rooftops and twisting flues - 

He holds a Jackdaw's treasures in his hands - 

He watches rooks dance in the smoke of a time worn chimney - 

18.30

Tuesday 4 October 2016

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset