Walking to Old Harry ...

The wind followed us along the hilltop - 

Invisible messengers matched our pace -

Nameless kings lay under the chalk - 

Clouds cast their shadows upon the sea - 

A signpost was outlined against the sky - 

Sloes were dark gifts in the hedgerows -  

Crows spread their cunning wings - 

Below us were the rich fields, the fragrance of apples - 

Here there was the bare grass, the air, the weight of the sky - 

A ketch sailed into the bay, past Old Harry - 

The ancient pathway led us from memory to memory - 

12.25

Saturday 30 September 2017

Ballard Down

Studland

Dorset 

Shipstal acorns ...

Acorns had fallen upon the sand - 

Above us, the branches wore tawny colours -

A yacht sailed towards Brownsea Island - 

Anne waded out into the shallow creek - 

Roots exposed by the tide were like tangled snakes -  

The foot prints of birds were letters of a secret alphabet - 

15.54

Friday 29 September 2017

Shipstal Point

Arne

Dorset 

Samurai blades ...

Paul was on holiday - the gentlemen's club was closed - 

The chairs were empty - the radio was silent - there were no gaffers admiring photographs of carp - 

I had my hair cut in Barnet's instead - 

I felt a bit disloyal - 

I was fed up though with looking like a seedy lounge lizard - 

An Amazon with purple hair motioned me to her chair - 

I admired the razor sharpness of her scissors - 

Like samurai blades she said - 

10.08

Thursday 28 September 2017

Barnet's 

Wareham

Calling card ...

I curbed my instinct to brush away the moth - 

I wondered whose invisible hand had placed it there - 

For there it was, this exquisite calling card, weighing less than a breath, fragile as a dream - 

15.56

27 September 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

Walking to Redcliffe ...

Walking to Redcliffe was like walking in a painting by Samuel Palmer - 

All we saw was bathed in golden light - 

The river was a glowing window under the numinous sky -  

Boats were half hidden by gilded reeds - 

Cattle grazed in silent meadows - 

Men stood in the water, casting their lines as though they were prophets casting for souls - 

18.30

Monday 25 September 2017

Redcliffe 

Purbeck 

Dorset   

A gift from a young dreamy god ...

I imagined Alice picking the mushroom - 

Its strange unsettling beauty had caught my eye - 

There it was, under a bank of Himalayan Balsam - 

Nearby, sheep lay upon the grass, chewing the cud - 

A narrow stream was choked with water weed - 

The air was still and warm - 

The mushroom was a gift from a young dreamy god - 

13.05

Monday 25 September 2017

East Stoke

Dorset 

A walk to the gates ...

These pavements don't help my dad says - 

He clasps my arm - 

He's wearing his Harris Tweed jacket - 

When I think of what I did in the Navy - 

When we'd docked a submarine I'd have a drink with the First Lieutenant - 

They'd give me what we called the docking fee - 

I'd take the bottle of whisky back to my cabin - 

We walk past The Prince of Wales - 

The man with cowboy hat is waiting for the doors to open -

He's ridden his bike across the gates - 

Sometimes they open up early he says -

11.15

Sunday 24 September 2017

Outside The Prince of Wales

Staunton Road

Havant 

My mum looks into her mirror ...

My mum held up her hand mirror - 

She spoke to her reflection - 

I can see you there she said - I can see you -

You're smiling - I can see you smiling - 

She put the mirror down -

She was smiling at me she said - 

09.29

Saturday 23 September 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Each gentle wave carried away a piece of summer ...

I lay my tweed jacket upon the sand - 

Before we shed our Autumn clothes, Anne asked a woman if the sea was cold - 

It's cool she said - 

She towelled her lean legs, shook her wet mane of hair - 

We waded in the shallows - 

There were white shells beneath our feet - 

A wind blew in from the bay - 

Each gentle wave took away a piece of summer - 

16.41

Friday 22 September 2017

Middle Beach 

Studland 

Dorset

A world hidden from the day ...

The lamplit terrace welcomed our shadows - 

Midnight villas were nests of silence - 

Dark windows looked out upon the empty pavements - 

Gardens were mysterious whispering Edens - 

The sky was without stars - 

The moon was lost somewhere - 

We walked through a world hidden from the day - 

20.18

Wednesday 20 2017

Southsea

Drinking Pouilly Fume ...

We're drinking Pouilly Fume - 

Foot steps echo on a wooden floor -  

Candles flicker - 

We try to remember the words we've lost - 

22.58

Wednesday 21 September 2017

Rosie's Wine Bar

Southsea 

Catching sight of the homburg ...

When I saw the homburg, I remembered the one I'd worn - 

I'd been a student in a winter's city - 

I sat at a desk inside a brutalist tower - 

My supervisor spoke in languid drawl - 

I'd wear my hat in the icy park - 

I'd pull the brim down over my left eye - 

I'd count my footsteps in lamplit streets -

17.37

Tuesday 19 September 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Penny whistle music in Cornhill ...

I'm sipping an Americano, listening to 1930s swing - 

The young waitress has the sexy eyebrows of Frida Kahlo - 

A woman asks if they do vegan - 

There's a slice of Dorset Apple Cake on my willow pattern plate - 

I'm wearing red Portillos - 

The window looks out upon the well mannered town - 

I'd given small coins to a blonde beggar playing a penny whistle - 

Sweet notes had been conjured by his lips - 

I'd thought of midsummer nights, clear rivers, ripe fruits - 

10.59

Monday 18 September 2017

ReLoved

Cornhill

Dortchester

Hearing of the death of Harry Dean Stanton ...

When I heard the news, I remembered the first time I'd seen Paris, Texas - 

A desert wind had blown against my face - 

I'd heard the music of a wounded guitar - 

The words had been stolen from my tongue - 

I looked back upon the story of my life - 

I sat next to Travis in a Ford Ranchero - 

We left for a place without language or streets - 

16.37

Sunday 17 October 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The queasy charm of Four Square paperbacks ...

I spent the afternoon in The Crooked Book - 

I explored a reef of lurid pulps - 

Spaceships circled an emerald moon - 

A Princess of Mars was a prize for living chessmen - 

Priests worshipped strange gods in golden temples - 

Tentacles encircled a spacewoman's waist - 

A robot haunted an empty city - 

A gumshoe sipped a mickey finn - 

I was seduced once more by the queasy charm of Four Square paperbacks - 

14.18

Saturday 16 September 2017

The Crooked Book

Bournemouth 

Remembering Llewelyn Powys at White Nothe ...

Llewelyn Powys walked this clifftop path - 

I remembered his gentle essays, how he wore a green coat - 

He'd crossed these same fields high above the bluest sea - 

The cliffs had been as white - 

The sky had held the same stars -

The swallows had left for warm skies then as now - 

12.00

Friday 15 September 2017

The Coastguard Cottages 

White Nothe

Dorset 

The whisper of forbidden words ...

On my way to the meeting, I was snared by a book shop - 

The twilight street was empty - 

A weathervane reflected fading sunlight - 

A youth idled in the Ottoman Kebab - 

Dorset Books was closed - 

I wondered what obscure volumes it might contain - 

I pictured a dark interior, a figure bent over the counter, a clock ticking in the shadows - 

Once inside, I would inhale the scent of yellowed pages - 

I would hear the whisper of forbidden words - 

19.00

Wednesday 13 September 2017

Blandford Forum  

Strange jewels ...

The sun follows rain - 

The apple tree casts its shadow - 

Windfalls are strange jewels upon the grass -

 

17.00

Wednesday 13 September 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset