Richard and Kemlo ...

Richard told me his older brother used to read The Eagle -

When he'd finished reading it, he'd let Richard pore over its exciting pages - 

There'd be hyperreal depictions of spaceships and doomed fighter bombers - 

Brave young men would circle alien worlds - 

Kemlo the space boy also haunted Richard's boyhood dreams - 

He breathed Plasmorgia Richard said - 

I remember the names of the books -

Kremlin and the Star Men - Kemlo and the Martian Ghosts - Kemlo and the Gravity Rays - 

I pictured the young Richard, in the bedroom he shared with his brother - 

His bed was a space scooter, his pyjamas a space suit -  

16.00

Wednesday 29 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

The news wasn't good ...

When I was in Billy Winters I thought about my dad - 

The news wasn't good -  

My dad would have forgotten her words before he left the hospital - 

It's in the bone the consultant had said -   

12.28

Wednesday 29 November 2017

Billy Winters

Weymouth 

Watching trash TV ...

Last night I watched some trash TV - 

Young gods were butchered in the arena - 

Their blood was soaked up by the burning sand - 

It was like drinking a vile and potent wine - 

I was snared by cruelty and savage sunlight - 

22.30

Monday 28 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Visitants ...

Anne's in London, with Sophie and Wallace - 

Paul will be crafting some subtle prose - 

I'm sitting in the red chair, reading a strange and beautiful story - 

Birds sit in the branches of the leafless apple tree - 

I look out at the pale grey sky - 

I think of tropic islands, of crystal seas -

I think of visitants, of clusters of stars like grapes - 

I think of the time when I will leave no footprints, not even on the whitest sands - 

16.01

Monday 27 November 2017

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset

The jukebox of souls ...

I've spent the afternoon remembering the hotel in the forest -  

I saw again the jukebox of souls - 

I heard its music - 

I sat once more in the blue car - 

I saw the white moon over the high hill - 

I smoked a cigarette in midnight streets - 

I heard once more those words which were whispered in my ear - 

Tais-toi - c'est fait - 

16.24

Sunday 26 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The champ in Java ...

I sat in Java, glancing up to see a poster of the champ - 

There he was, squaring up to face the world - 

I remembered seeing his fights on my parents' TV - 

We all cheered him on - 

His fists knew magic - 

He danced, silver tongued, around his foes - 

Even now, I felt the power of his spell - 

12.52

Sunday 25 November 2017

Java Coffee House 

Swanage 

Dorset 

Falling words ...

This evening Richard will hear blues sung by Kent Duchaine - 

Lou will pour dark ale into Richard's glass - 

The bluesman will play his passionate guitar - 

He'll bring with him a southern moon - 

Richard will find the words he needs - 

They will fall from the night sky, fly through the narrow streets - 

They will settle upon his tongue - 

He'll dance slowly with his muse - 

15.59

Friday 24 November 2017

The Old School a House

East Stoke 

Dorset   

Waiting ...

I'm waiting for Anne in the Co-op car park - 

I've just seen one of the yoga ladies getting out of her BMW -

It's getting dark - 

I think of all the times in my life I've waited - 

I've waited for morning - 

I've waited for the results of CT scans - 

I've waited for white jets to touch the sleeping earth - 

I've waited to see my children grow in beauty - 

I've waited to see my grandson smile a smile as wonderful as summer - 

I've waited for words to fall upon my tongue - 

17.04

Thursday 23 November 2017

Co-op car park 

Wareham 

Standing by the bar football table ...

 

I'm reading The Age of Reason - 

The pages of the foxed Penguin smell of cigarette smoke - 

I wonder who has read the book before me - 

They sit beside me whilst I watch Daniel approach the bar football table - 

I feel their breath against my cheek - 

I think of Annick - 

Tais-toi Christophe she'd said ...

17.52

Wednesday 22 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Cast away coins ...

I'm writing about someone I knew - 

Each memory is like an antique coin -

I search for the coins in the dark earth - 

I hold them in my hand - 

How many coins are there, I wonder, hidden in the ground ? - 

Each one waits for light - 

Each one as bright and as unmarred as when it was cast away - 


18.55
Tuesday 21 November 2017

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Worn out words ...

Whilst drinking an Americano, I glanced up to see a roomful of apparatchiks - 

They were ensnared by a PowerPoint - 

There was the facilitator, with her professional smile - 

There was the screen - there were the conference packs - 

It all came back to me - 

I remembered all those meetings I'd attended wearing a dark suit - 

What was left of them ? - 

Nothing but a memory of numbing graphics, of worn out words - 

12.07

Monday 20 November 2017

Purbeck Sports Centre 

Wareham 

Dorset 

Bud's card ...

My dad found the birthday card Bud Abbot had sent him - 

The message on the front of the card said 90 vintage and aged to perfection - 

Later my dad rang up his old shipmate - 

Chris and Anne are here he said - 

I'll take them out to lunch - 

Pegs is well - better than me - 

Meanwhile, sandwiches had been placed under pillows -

Trousers needed to be kidnapped for the washing machine - 

Nat King Cole was singing do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa - 

11.29

Sunday 19 November 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

 

The boundless sea beyond the door ...

Billy smiled his lazy beachcomber's smile - 

What will you have ? - 

Americano ? - 

Cappuccino ? - 

Mojito ? - 

I was listening to Jack Johnson - 

Let there be light Billy said - 

I took off my coat - 

Bright sunlight fell upon the painted tables - 

Jack sang his song - 

I could smell the boundless sea beyond the door - 

12.00

Friday 17 November 2017

Billy Winters Bar and Diner

Weymouth 

Billy Winter's ...

There were ghost stations on the Rodwell Trail - 

We saw starlings gathering in a leafless tree - 

Lean cyclists swept past us in a whisper of air -

Broken walls cast their shadows upon the grass - 

Rare chance took us to this place -

Welcome to Billy Winters Billy Winter said - 

11.59

Friday 17 November 2017

Billy Winters Bar and Diner

Weymouth 

 

Words fell onto my tongue ...

In The Crooked Book, I found a foxed Penguin of The Age of Reason -

The members of the Knitting Club had just left - 

I'd just had a check up at 740 Dental - 

I'd heard Radio 2 songs in the pristine surgery - 

Sharon had delved with her shining instruments - 

Now I ate lime, lemon and poppy seed cake - 

November sunshine bathed the louche pavements - 

Slot machines glowered in a nearby arcade - 

I considered buying a pyramid of vintage suitcases - 

I sipped an Americano - 

Words fell onto my tongue - 

11.59

Thursday 16 November 2017

The Crooked Book

Bournemouth

The weight of memory ...

Everything we hold is freighted with memory - 

My dark suit carries the memory of conference halls - 

My boat shoes remember midnight landfalls - 

My shadow recalls every step I've taken - 

A shell in my pocket reminds me of the Pilgrims Path - 

13.14

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Wareham

Dorset  

Holding the rabbit by its ears ...

I'm holding my toy rabbit by its ears - 

I'm bathed in innocent sunlight - 

The garden is my bright closed world - 

An invisible coat, years thick, hangs from my shoulders - 

15.32

Tuesday 14 November 2017

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset 

Swanage Armistice ...

The Tory MP was wearing fancy brogues - 

A veteran placed a trumpet against his lips - 

We'd marched through the streets of the seaside town - 

Pipers had played their brawny pipes - 

Kilts had swung - 

I'd mimed when we'd had to sing the National Anthem - 

Yet whilst I held the wreath, invisible fingers had clasped my wrist - 

The Last Post sounded - 

Someone said they will not grow old as we grow old - 

A bitter wind blew in from the sea - 

16.00

Sunday 13 May 2017

Swanage 

Dorset 

Remembering Hans ...

The studio would smell of turpentine and African tobacco - 

Hans would smile his wise mischief making smile - 

He'd tell me about the Opel town - 

His father had worked in the vast factory - 

There he was, his father, wearing an Indian headdress, riding his bicycle - 

That was how I saw him said Hans - Apollo - that was how I painted him -

The magic house was filled with wonder - 

Each painting made me aware of the beautiful mystery of the world - 

20.17

Sunday 12 November 2017

The Old School

East Stoke

Dorset

There was no language in that place ...

I've just finished reading Elie Wiesel's Night - 

I heard men howling in an icy waste - 

I saw a black sun in a white sky - 

There was no language in that place - 

There no words which could carry the weight of that horror -

17.24

Saturday 11 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

Weymouth in November ...

After apple and apricot cake we explored the nave - 

Salt rinsed bones lay under Portland Stone - 

A coat of arms featured the heads of three Barbary Pirates - 

Above the altar, there was a wall painting of the Last Supper - 

A staircase of dark wood spiralled upwards towards a daunting pulpit -

From there the Word had been preached by mutton chopped rectors - 

Beyond the severe facade of the church lay the seaside town - 

Bow windows faced the sea - 

The Royal Hotel opened its doors to memory - 

13.30

Friday 10 November 2017

Weymouth 

Dorset