New animals ...

We're becoming characters in a short story by J G Ballard - 

We swim in the warm shallows of a new sea - 

We wear salt stained shirts - 

Soon we'll see flamingos - 

At night, there's bonfires on the beach - 

The tropic moon fills the sky - 

New animals wait beyond the trees - 

16.27

Friday 29 June 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

The salt upon my lips ...

Seagulls flew low above the glistening sands - 

Dads waded knee high in the shallows - 

Anne put on her Cuba dress - 

Ocean collected the Southsea Deckchairs - 

I could still taste the salt upon my lips - 

16.51

Thursday 28 June 2018

South Beach 

Studland

Dark butterflies ...

Dark butterflies went before us - 

Bright greenery scented the air - 

We pased the wrought iron gate to the hidden garden - 

Three wrens flew close to the summer earth - 

A shallow stream flowed over white pebbles - 

Tall nettles brushed against our skin - 

The beach had surely come from a short story by J G Ballard - 

A tilting pill box waited for an enigmatic narrator - 

Penelope traced the flight of a curlew -

I swam in the clear sea under a flawless sky - 

11.00

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Ringstead Bay

Dorset 

 

Turning into smoke ...

On this bright sand, I can feel my body turning into smoke - 

I can feel the wind that will blow me to the edge of the world - 

In the car I listen over and over to one song - 

I can't give everything away -

The song comes to me from beyond the edge of the world - 

I can't give everything away - 

17.00

Tuesday 26 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

Swimming with Anne and Penelope ...

I swam with Anne and Penelope in the blue green sea - 

The water was as clear as glass - 

Beneath us was a bed of smooth ribbed sand -

Each shell I saw was a token of all my summers - 

My years were measured by the waves - 

12.00

Monday 25 June 2018

South Beach 

Studland 

Dorset 

Peronis at Gianni's ...

We ordered Peronis in Gianni's - 

Prego, Peronis Antonio said laughing - 

We can make you anything, even Chinese - 

It was the last evening we would eat and drink together - 

We had braved truculent bullocks in thistled fields - 

We'd followed wavering paths through wicked nettles - 

We'd seen six hares - 

We'd climbed fells under darkening skies -

We'd crossed Hell Gill Bridge -

Old walls were known us - 

The curlew's song was one we sang -

Our eyes had read proud names carved in marble - 

Si, Peronis Antonio said -

Now what would you like to eat ? - 

19.13

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Gianni's 

Penrith 

A mirror of promise ...

After porridge with honey, I read The Yorkshire Post - 

The lounge was empty save for deer heads - 

My companions were putting on their boots - 

The day was before us - 

The river outside was a mirror of promise - 

9.44

13 June 2018

Burnsall 

Wharfdale

My heavy glass ...

My heavy glass was filled with ale - 

Two men from the sleeping village were talking their few words - 

Smouldering logs warmed the bar - 

Rain would fall upon lichened roof tiles - 

A storm was coming to the fells - 

21.30

Wednsday 13 June 2018 

Fox & Hounds Inn

Starbotton

Upper Wharfdale 

Julia looks at the fells...

Julia leaned on the gate to look at the fells - 

Our path had taken us across ancient fields - 

Curlews had flown before us - 

The wind blowing against our faces came from the high places - 

There each sheepfold cradled centuries - 

Each cloud cast an ageless shadow - 

12.33

Monday 18 June 2018

Warcop

Cumbria 

Night falling on the northern world ...

Magical light bathed the fellside - 

Each field became a strange new world - 

Each dry stone wall became a subtle border - 

Night was falling on the northern world - 

Above the rooftops clouds from dreams would fill the sky - 

22.00

Tuesday 12 June 2018

Burnsall

Wharedale 

The moon in my pocket ...

Near Hangingshaw we saw a gypsy horse -

I wanted to ride it over the windy fields - 

I'd speak an ancient language - 

I'd carry the moon in my pocket - 

The hares would know my name - 

11.20

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Hangingshaw

near Appleyby-In-Westmoreland

Invisible guests ...

The hotel was filled with invisible guests - 

They had climbed these winding stairs - 

They had slept in these upper rooms -

They stood behind me as I opened my bedroom door - 

They saw me read their names - 

They touched me on my shoulder - 

We are here too they said - 

09.22

Monday 18 June 2018

The Inn at Brough 

Brough

Cumbria 

Pendragon ...

I felt the years in the broken stone - 

There were thistles in the deep moat - 

There were lost names upon the wind - 

11.18

Sunday 17 June 2018

Pendragon Castle 

Mallerstang

Rain and silence ...

We walked with rain and silence - 

Sheep watched us pass - 

Swollen clouds covered the sky - 

Hail stung our faces - 

Below us, the bright valley was a world we'd lost - 

High on the fell, we saw the dark bones of farm houses -.

We heard histories in piles of lichened stone - 

12.15

Saturday 15 June 2018

High Abbotside

Wensleydale 

Turner once walked this narrow path ...

Turner once walked this narrow path - 

He, too, breathed this air scented by wild garlic - 

Where I stood, high above the stony stream bed, he once stood - 

His gaze, like mine, was caught by the waterfall beyond the trees -

The same sky was above us - 

The same voice of the water had called us here - 

10.44

15 June 2018

Mill Gill Force 

Wensleydale 

A summer's gift ...

We walked through meadows of knee high grass - 

Young willow trees danced before the wind - 

Sand martins flew almost too swiftly to trace their flight - 

Wild flowers were a summer's gift - 

Each buttercup was a golden prize - 

12.29

Thursday 14 June 2018

Askrigg 

Wensleydale 

The hare ...

We saw our fourth hare near Capplestone Gate - 

Two lapwings flew high above the fell - 

The hare moved like a spirit of the air across the wind blown grass - 

 

15.00

Wednesday13 June 2018

Capplestone Gate

Conistone Moor

The fly fisherman ...

A fly fisherman stood waist deep in the shining river - 

He cast his snaking line with insouciant grace - 

A kingfisher flew by in a dazzle of blueness - 

I remrmbered hearing the curlew's song - 

I felt the wonder of the turning world -  

15.00

Tuesday 12 June 2018

approaching Burnsall 

Wharfdale 

The gentle weight of memory ...

Tom's got dry stone walling in his blood Alyson said - 

Tom's farm was near Settle, on a high hill - 

When he spoke, it was with the wisdom of the seasons -

The weight of memory shaped his smile - 

21.00

Monday June 11 2018

The Woolly Sheep 

Skipton

Fearful gardens ...

I'm sitting in the garden - 

It's warm and green - 

The air is still -

In my head I'm walking down Lezno Street - 

A pianist is playing a Chopin nocturne in the Fountain Cafe - 

An emperor of lies goes by in a horse drawn tram - 

Beyond the walls, a special commando waits - 

The long trains will go to the East - 

Lilac blooms in fearful gardens -

16.00

Sunday 10 June 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The land will shape new stories ...

Already I feel the northern wind against my face - 

This will be the fifth year of our walking the old ways -

High moors, deep valleys, wait for us - 

Hearth fires will warm us - 

The land will shape new stories - 

The rain will wash words from the sky - 

21.47

Saturday 9 June 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The four pine trees ...

Swimming towards the land, I saw four pine trees - 

They cast flawless shadows - 

Held up by the greenish blue sea, I felt the impossibility of being old - 

I felt my heart dance inside my chest - 

My skin was warmed by the generous sun -

My years were washed away - 

15.44

Friday June 8 2018

South Beach

Studland

Dorset 

From the edge of the world ...

I see his last years in my dreams - 

He sits in his chair like a forgotten king - 

To my shame, I avoid his gaze - 

Yet that week, I held his poor hands - 

He looked at me from the the edge of the world where he then stood - 

I told him that I loved him - 

I know you do he said - 

I know that one day I'll stand where he stood - 

I'll hear the voices I love at the edge of the world - 

My poor hands will be held - 

The world will slip away from me - 

My chair will be my last throne - 

12.53

Friday 8 June 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The return of the carvers ...

The carvers are back for summer - 

Soon they'll be sitting before their midnight fires - 

They'll carve hares with their shining chainsaws - 

They'll drink cider from golden cups - 

Ancient journeys have led them to the gentle town - 

Now they'll remember their winter dreams -

15.00

Wednesday June 6 2018

Middle Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

Buying the third volume of Left Hand, Right Hand! ...

I unwound my keffiyeh - 

I was wearing my antiquarian tweed - 

I'd turned the pages of a foxed Freya Stark - 

Invisible Naval Officers had brushed past me - 

I gazed at a county map showing lost villages - 

Old words stirred in reefs of memoirs - 

The silverback took my note - 

Osbert Sitwell he growled - 

There's not much profit there - 

11.59

Tuesday 5 June 2018

Salisbury