Each small wave ...

Last night I sipped dark ale watching The Ninth Gate -

Johhny Depp was a fearless bibliophile - 

There was some glorious nonsense of an occult conspiracy - 

This morning the gentle garden gave me comfort - 

Later, I looked at the calm pale sea - 

The hilltops were veiled by mist - 

A yacht with a furled sail lay offshore - 

Each small wave that broke upon the beach washed away a portion of my sorrow - 

11.30

Monday 29 May 2017

Studland

Dorset

Bones as fragile as a bird's ...

For a moment I saw a beloved face become a mask - 

Each terrible second went on as if it would never end - 

Before I fall asleep I shall hear the sound made by a heart when it is broken - 

I shall relive that moment - 

My hands will encircle bones as fragile as a bird's - 

20.00

Saturday 27 May 2017

Hayling Island

Hampshire 

The class of 43 ...

I went to the Northern Sec my dad said - 

Later they called it the Northern Grammar - 

I passed an exam to go there -

Then the War came - 

They evacuated the Northern Sec - 

My mum refused to move - she said we may as well all get killed together - 

I moved to the Southern Sec - 

That was south of the bridge -  

That got bombed - 

I then went to the Dockyard school - the class of 43 - 

Bill got a place at Walkers College - 

But he couldn't go - for a time he worked in the foundry - in the Dockyard - 

My dad showed me his tie - 

There were eighteen of us he said - the class of 43 - 

There are three left now, I thought - 

My dad, Bud and one other whose name he'd forgotten - 

16.35

Saturday 26 May 2017

Staunton Road 

Havant 

Hampshire  

Games of old Rudmore ...

Of course, there were no cars my dad said - 

You could play in the street - 

If a car came, it was an event - 

People would come out to look - 

Even doctors came round on bikes - 

You paid half a crown for a visit - 

Sometimes the doctor wouldn't take the half a crown - 

We played Kick Stone Trot - 

There was another game, when things were thrown at you whilst you were running -

I don't remember what they called that game - 

The Gaso was in Road View - 

This was before the War - 

It's all gone now though - 

Under a roundabout - 

15.45

Thursday 25 May 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Hampshire 

Dancing in the lounge of memory ...

This afternoon I danced with my mum in the lounge of memory - 

Artie Shaw's clarinet cast its silky spell - 

My mum's feet remembered the dance floor of The Hippodrome - 

There she was, with her sisters - 

There, with their mad lapels and Senior Service, were the boys - 

Amongst them was my dad, Jim to Ray and Bud - 

Don't let them begin the Beguin the Beguine I whispered - 

15.45

Wednesday 24 May 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Hampshire  

A Blue Velvet suburbia ...

We walked through a Blue Velvet suburbia towards the sea - 

A shining People Carrier was parked in every driveway - 

Each chalet bungalow graced a pristine lawn - 

Shapely trees overlooked white conservatories - 

Flat screen TVs spilled spooky visions into elegant lounges - 

Foxes gathered in twilight gardens - 

A bicycle was left upon the beach - 

A yacht with dark red sails moved towards the shore - 

11.18

Tuesday 23 May 2017

Hayling Island

Hampshire 

Autre temps, autre moeurs ...

You had to pay sixpence or eight pence for a bath my dad said - 

If you paid sixpence, you didn't get much water -

You'd see lads going to the baths, their towels over their arms - 

You went once or twice a week - 

Houses didn't have bathrooms, not the houses we lived in - 

You had a tin bath which you filled with water from a copper - 

You used a saucepan to put the hot water in - 

But when you grew up, you didn't want that - 

I pictured my dad, just turned fifteen, walking down pinched streets to the Public Baths - 

He smiled a surprising gentle smile - 

Autre temps, autre moeurs he said - 

15.45

Monday 22 May 2017

Staunton Road

Havant

Hampshire 

The ghost of a nimble boy ...

This afternoon, my dad recited verses from The Rubaiyat - 

Warm sunlight filled the lounge of memory - 

He recited the jewel like quatrains without faltering, word perfect - 

For a moment, the ghost of a nimble boy sat in the armchair - 

I saw his unclouded blue eyes -

I saw him open the small book which is now in the glass fronted book case - 

He'd carry it in his pocket across grey oceans - 

He'd read from it whilst searchlights hid the stars - 

15.30

Sunday 21 May 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Caring for shadows ...

I read Modiano in the Lynchian lounge - 

A young fox danced across the lawn - 

The tree lined avenue led to the sea - 

Anne saw kite surfers ride the salty wind - 

Earlier, my dad had chuckled at a photograph of Stanley Baldwin in The Times - 

This week, I'd move between two worlds - 

Each morning, I'd wake up in a house made for summer - 

Each evening, I'd leave a house where I'd cared for shadows - 

21.49

Saturday 20 May 2017

Hayling Island

Hampshire 

Did we know you were coming? ...

This time tomorrow, I'll be in the lounge of memory - 

Despite the sunshine, my dad will keep the French Windows closed - 

Flies might get in he'll say - 

My mum will be wearing at least two skirts - 

Anne will urge her to drink a glass of water -

Bottoms up I'll say - 

This afternoon we lay in the warm garden - 

Two swans flew low over the water meadows - 

The apple tree cast its shadow upon the newly cut grass - 

I wore the straw hat I wore in Havana - 

Anne stretched out upon the lawn - 

But already I could hear my dad - 

Did we know you were coming he was asking - 

Did we know ? - 

 

17.04

Friday 19 May 2017

The garden

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Do you have any mutton pies?

Three northerners sat near me in The Salt Pig this morning - 

I admired the Golden Retriever - 

She's normally shy the wife said - 

The Polish beauty came over with their teas - 

Do you have any mutton pies? the dad asked - 

Only venison pies the beauty said - 

I sipped my cappuccino - 

I considered buying some Dorset Knob biscuits - 

My newspaper was unread - 

I stroked the Retriever's silky ears - 

11.38

Thursday 18 2017

The Salt Pig 

Wareham

Dorset 

The hide ...

Rain was falling when we walked to Shipstal Point - 

The sky was full of cloud, touching the washed land - 

 

We heard birdsong under the shining trees - 

There were still bluebells to be seen amongst the new bracken -

The grey hills were half hidden by the rain - 

Above our heads, oak leaves caught pristine raindrops - 

We sat in the hide, watching birds in their mysterious world - 

Nearby were deep pools of peaty water, each one a dark mirror -  

The rain continued to fall - 

I turned to Penelope - 

It's as though we're the last people left in the world I said - 

11.30

Wednesday 17 2017

Arne

Dorset 

A nest of words ...

I was charmed by the first edition of Summoned By Bells - 

Anne recognised the signs - 

He's been collecting books for thirty years she said - 

Caroline smiled - 

It's like a disease she said - 

The elegant room was a nest of words - 

By then I'd found a first edition of Mervyn Peake - 

I gazed in delight at its feverish pages - 

Time to go Anne said -

14.20

Tuesday 16 May 2017

Bridport Old Books

Bridport 

Dorset

Smelling smoke in The Crooked Book ...

After Sharon put down her shining instruments, I went for a silky cappuccino in The Crooked Book - 

Widowers' jackets mourned the shoulders from which once they'd hung - 

A piano invited a player - 

Old suitcases remembered border crossings - 

Reefs of books diverted me - 

I found a foxed Panther William S Burroughs - 

Annick had read me pages from The Ticket That Exploded - 

I remembered her bedsit in Winchester, the way she pronounced my surname - 

For a moment I smelled her smoke - 

I turned to see the girl with high cheek bones writing something in a ledger - 

I put down my cup - 

Soft rain fell upon the pale figures in the street - 

10.54

Monday 15 May 2017

The Crooked Book

Bournemouth 

Must be something to do with the lighting ...

I watched the dads choosing polo shirts in M&S - 

Trim mannequins sported stylish hats - 

Somewhere there were louche Panamas - 

A poster depicted three dudes on a beach - 

We'd escaped from the lounge of memory - 

Anne and I tried on linen trousers in one of the fitting rooms - 

I shivered when I saw my reflections in the fitting room mirrors - 

Don't worry Anne said - 

It's always the same in fitting rooms - 

Must be something to do with the lighting - 

15.00

Sunday 14 May 2017

M&S

Havant 

Hampshire 

Splash some red ...

Waiting for chickpea and broccoli soup in Java, I cast my mind back over the morning - 

We'd set up our stall outside Barclays - 

Ros and I blew up the red balloons - 

Stones from the beach weighed down our posters and leaflets - 

 

Debbie, bright eyed and fearless, spoke to passers by -

David held up fistfuls of brave words - 

A man wearing red portillos had stalked across the road - 

Drax is for a hard Brexit he'd said - 

I'm for remain - the 48 per cent - 

Splash some red in a sea of blue I said - 

13.00

Saturday 13 May 2017

Java Coffee House 

Swanage

Dorset 

It's all changed now ...

Over coffee cake and cappuccino, Marylyn reminded us of once familiar names -

I remembered the playground, the staff room, the boys playing table tennis before the start of school - 

Rod had made us coffee each morning with moscovado sugar - 

I'd walked from classroom to classroom wearing a dark blue suit - 

Each door had opened upon a different adventure - 

In one classroom, boys would be reading Of Mice And Men, calmly reflecting upon the nature of the American Dream - 

Just down the corridor, they'd be sparking up in the toilets - 

Sir, the Poles are fighting I'd be told - 

How could I forget those days I thought - 

How could I forget all those good people -

Len sighed a northern sigh - 

It's all changed now he said - 

11.00

Friday 12 May 2017

Wimborne 

Dreams of the gentle town ...

It was high tide when we walked from Wareham to Redcliffe - 

The Orca sailed past us, a leathery Charon at the tiller -

Two visitors sat listening to his commentary - 

I could smell May blossom - 

I read the names of the yachts - Avocet - Cornish Crabber - 

Waitresses were serving cream teas in Nellie Crumb - 

Gulls perched upon the rooftop of The Italian Kitchen - 

The gentle town slept under the warm sky - 

Its dreams were of ancient summers, of the winds stirring fragrant grass - 

15.53

Thursday 11 May 2017

River Frome

Wareham

Dorset

A colourless shirt ...

From the road you could see the red banner - 

I felt for a moment as though I were a member of POUM, ragged and fearless - 

I was a saboteur, a voice for the voiceless - 

I was no longer wearing a colourless shirt -

19.33

Wednesday 10 May 2017

The Old School School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Like an Indian Scout up San Diego Road ...

We spent an hour or so in the company of gentle bric a brac -

We were idling away Sunday morning in an Antiques Fayre - 

Tessa admired a wooden mask - 

I read some pages of The Annals of Mont Blanc - 

Cigarette cards recalled days when people smoked in dance halls - 

The detritus of small lives was washed up upon folding tables - 

We were served tea and cake by a nervy irritable woman - 

I'm in a hurry she said - how do you like your tea ? - 

I kept my red admission ticket - 

It was like the ticket I'd been given when I saw films at The Criterion - 

I'd hooted with the other boys at the cowboys on the screen - 

I can recall even now the itchy darkness of the small cinema - 

I'd walked back home like an Indian Scout up San Diego Road - 

11.30

Sunday 7 May 2017

Village Hall

Corfe Castle 

Dorset 

Two sisters ...

The two sisters walked upon the sunlit lawn - 

Blossoms fell from the apple tree - 

Soon my life would be transformed - 

Now I waited for that moment - 

I tried to read the language of the clouds - 

I traced the flight of swallows - 

None would tell me what the future held - 

I'd wait each day for longed for news - 

Each minute would balance light and dark - 

14.45

Sunday 7 May 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset