Acquacar ...

We drove through the dark boozy streets - 

Richard remembered taxis in Manila -

Dashboard lights cast their pale glimmer - 

Sad beggars sat before closed doors - 

Songs waited in juke boxes -

Lonely drinkers counted out their hours - 

22.20

Monday 31 July 2018

Southsea 

The apples will fall from the tree -

The house is empty - 

I remember my dad saying those words - 

Now I say them - 

One day, I know, I'll stand in a driveway - 

I'll be waving goodbye to those I love - 

The wind will blow, the apples will fall from the tree - 

21.19

Sunday 29 July 2019

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

You can't go wrong with Poirot ...

We were soothed by Poirot on ITV 3 - 

There was a 1930s siren with scarlet lips - 

It was summer - 

There were opulent Packards - 

There was a big house - 

You can't go wrong with Poirot, I thought - 

I knew what would come next - 

The housekeeper's daughter would be poisoned - 

Poirot would try to warn her - 

There'd be a scene in a tea shop - 

A growling detective would have rubbery jowls - 

An innocent would face the gallows -

Captain Hastings would wear tweed - 

18.12 

Saturday 28 July 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The ink is still wet upon the page ...

I'm reading Peter Martin's A Life of James Boswell - 

I picture myself sharing a bowl of punch with the sublime scribbler - 

He's chilled by the shadow of his austere father - 

I remember his words - a man adjusts his character by looking at his journal - 

I think of my own diaries, the artless effusions, the shame making confessions - 

Philip Larkin asked a lover to burn his diaries - 

Boswell's remain - 

There's a heeltap in his glass -

The ink is still wet upon the page - 

21.58

Friday 27 July 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

New songs ...

The carvers' dreadlocks are bleached by the sun - 

No rain fals from the Ballardian sky - 

We are becoming a sunburnt tribe - 

We sit on the scorched grass, or swim in the river - 

Long legged girls are Amazons - 

Bare chested boys carry spears - 

The elders of the tribe remember white winters - 

The apples on the tree are small and bitter - 

We drink poteen by midnight fires - 

We learn new songs under different skies - 

July 2018

Wareham 

Dorset 

A shining garden ...

For Wallace, the summer pavement was a ribbon of wonders -

Everything he saw was new and strange - 

Each sound he heard had mysterious echoes - 

The cars in the street were amazing beasts - 

A fallen leaf was a gift from heaven - 

Walking with him, once more I walked through a shining garden - 

Looking up, I could see people in the clouds who spoke to me - 

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Wareham

Dorset 

Remembering a song by The Magnetic Fields ...

In one hand I held a glass of Otter, in the other a Morning Star - 

Anne said that a boy had rapped beautiful truthful words - 

I'd considered buying a dangerous shirt - 

Tipsy comrades stood before the bar - 

Dusk came to the festival - 

Soon we would dance - 

I remembered the words of a song I loved - 

This too shall pass 

So raise your glass to change and chance 

Love, music, wine and revolution -

21.00

Friday 21 July 2018

Tolpuddle 

Banners ...

Banners were upheld to the music of joyous trombones - 

I will think of those banners whenever I hear the sly words of apparatchiks - 

Each banner told me a true story - 

Each one lifted my heart - 

14.09

Sunday 22 July 2018

Tolpuddle 

His gentle gaze ...

 

I saw the summer's flowers heaped on Hammet's grave - 

The man upon whom all our hopes rest left the church - 

I thought of all those who reviled him - 

I recalled the headlines, the sneering talking heads - 

He stood only a few feet away from me -

There was no entourage around him, no shiny masks - 

I was aware only of his calm, his gentle gaze - 

13.56

Sunday 22 July 2018

Tolpuddle 

Dancing to the Barstool Preachers ...

The band played their sexy crazy ska - 

We danced with the comrades in the Martyrs Marquee -

The singer leapt high with his wild guitar - 

Barstool Preachers we roared as one - 

Banners caught the evening breeze - 

Brave words burned on fearless tongues - 

22.00

Friday 20 July 2018

Tolpuddle

Driving to Tolpuddle .,,

We're driving to Tolpuddle - 

The small villages gather round their churches - 

Rooks fly above gentle hills - 

The fields hide their sad histories - 

18.00

Friday July 20 2018

Dorset 

Secret greenery ...

I walked barefoot in the early morning - 

My red shirt was open at the neck - 

I lingered amidst the secret greenery of the garden -

The bright city was a cool breath away - 

08.00

Wednesday 18 July 2018

Hackney 

Pale slice of moon ...

I climbed steep stairs to the rooftop terrace - 

Our hostess wore a Rick Owens dress - 

I remembered the sound of the icy guitars - 

I saw the far off shapes of gaudy towers -

There was a pale slice of moon in the London sky - 

21.30

Tuesday 17 July 2018

Hackney 

Floating world ...

A sultry twilight fell on London Fields - 

There were still young men with the beards of prophets - 

We walked along the towpath - 

We caught glimpses of a louche floating world - 

20.00

Monday 16 July 2018

Hackney

Shoreditch 

Frida ...

Frida paints her corset with strange flowers - 

You can see her in photographs. 

Thete she is, with Diego and Leon - 

They're smiling, deep in conversation - 

In the exhibition, you can gaze at her secret beautiful wounds - 

There she is, with her art and her pierced body - 

I feel like a voyeur, looking at her - 

I want to trace her brow, smell the smoke clinging to her skin - 

10.00

July 16 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

 

Midnight train ...

I wait for the midnight train - 

Paul will be wearing a wedding suit - 

He'll remember music in a sunlit field - 

Two rivers ran through the cathedral city - 

I listen to hip hop in the waiting car - 

I glance at my father's watch -

Taxis draw up as the train approaches - 

Above the sleeping world is a starless sky - 

July 2018

Wareham 

The Crematorium Gardens ...

Richard sits in the Crematorium Gardens - 

Bright sunlight falls upon the trees - 

I see my own black cars, the calm masks of the pall bearers - 

I hear the voices of those who read the words - 

Bells sometimes toll - 

The world goes by in the street - 

The black cars pass like unknown animals - 

July 2018

Portsmouth

East Stoke 

 

His smile gave them back their boyhoods ...

Wallace charmed every gaffer he saw in the gentle town -

His smile gave them back their boyhoods - 

Once more they had young faces beautiful with promise - 

11.00

Thursday 12 July 2018

Wareham 

That's some Catch ...

I'm reading Catch 22 again - 

I'm flying once more with Yossarian in the murderous sky - 

My dad cherished each killer wisecrack - 

I remember him laughing - 

That's some Catch, that Catch 22 - 

19.59

Thursday 12 July 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

 

A priceless gift ...

I see on a screen the wonderful mysteries of my body - 

I lie on my side, listening to gentle voices -

Dreamy drugs soothe me - 

I hear the words I long to hear - 

Once more I have been given a priceless gift - 

There it is, the wonderful nowness of the world - 

16.00

Wednesday 11 July 2018

SwanageHospital 

Crossing the border ...

Another hour and I'll drink the lemon flavoured potion - 

I'll measure out my glass - 

Once more, I cross a border - 

In this country nothing can be certain - 

I know its corridors, its careful voices - 

There, I've put down my glass - 

I've crossed the border - 

13.00 - 14.23

Tuesday 10 July 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Augeries ...

I'm sitting under the apple tree - 

I gaze at the precious watch around my wrist - 

I look for auguries in the movement of the clouds - 

17.05

Monday 9 July 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The invisible world ...

My Southsea Deckchair is part of the sunlit world - 

All those who are here can see it -

They can see the parasol, the shadow I cast upon the sand - 

They can see me writing this, a green scarf around my neck - 

Yet even swimming in this warm dazzling sea, I can sense the invisible world beneath this sunlit one - 

I can feel its chill breath now, the pearls of water shining on my skin - 

12.58

Sunday July 8 2018

South Beach

Studland

The evening sea ...

The evening sea cools sunburnt swimmers - 

Ocean's mothers cooks paella - 

Tattooed boys celebrate the afternoon's game -

Portly dads loll on the warm sand - 

Dogs bark and loyally plunge into the shallows - 

Anne speaks to her sister, Jane, on her Samsun - 

Two worlds touch for a moment - 

The four pines cast their warm shadow -

I leave a trail of smoke on the darkening air -

19.00

Saturday 7 July 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

 

The Peugeot's tyres sighed over empty roads ...

I heard Iggy Pop drawling very softly whilst I drove across Salisbury Plain - 

Nils Frahm he drawled - 

Wonderful spooky beguiling music filled the interior of the pristine Peugeot - 

The last sunlight fell upon scorched fields - 

The Peugeot's tyres sighed over empty roads - 

19.30

Friday 6 July 2018

A354

Woodyates 

This time next week ...

This time next week, I'll know what words to write - 

I'll hear what's now unsaid - 

I'll see what's now unseen - 

17.15

Thursday July 6 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Air and stone ...

We climbed up from the hidden cove - 

We'd seen a sailing ship with four red sails - 

We'd heard the voices of the sea -

This ancient church was open to the sky - 

Box tombs held yellowed bones - 

Old names were carved in air and stone - 

14.09

Wednesday 4 July 2018

St Andrew's Church

Church Ope Cove 

Isle of Portland 

Nests of dreams ...

When Richard spoke, I remembered the cinemas of my boyhood - 

In The Criterion, I would sit amongst the hooting gangs - 

I would watch the cowboys play murderous poker - 

Lawrence of Arabia haunted the foyer of The Ritz -

Rockets circled dangerous planets inside The Forum - 

Each cinema was a nest of dreams - 

Each film I saw was made for me alone - 

I would ride my bike home as if I were a hero - 

15.52

Tuesday 3 July 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset