Halloween in the gentle town ...

Vampires walked the pavements of the gentle town - 

A boy with red hair wore a necromancer's robe - 

Witches stood behind the checkouts in Sainsburys - 

It was Halloween - 

I walked with six bottles of Ghost Ship past the old town hall - 

I promised myself a story by M R James - 

I'd hear soft footsteps on the stairs - 

18.30

Wednesday 31 October 2018

Wareham 

Dorset 

I thought of Samuel Palmer ...

Once more, I thought of Samuel Palmer - 

Golden light was falling on the water meadows - 

The sun was low in the shining sky - 

I felt my watch slip off my wrist - 

I saw angels standing on the branches of the Autumn trees - 

Monday 29 October 2018

East Stoke

Dorset

Theresa's England ...

I ate carrot cake in the Delfino Lounge - 

A young bearded god bought me my cappuccino - 

I listened to gentle eighties pop - 

The sad town was almost beautiful in the gathering dark - 

Earlier, I'd tried on a pork pie hat - 

I bought a jumper of Merino wool - 

A beggar sang his song in Falkland Square -  

Amazons sold I phones - 

Pensioners on mobility scooters waited for the train to pass - 

The man selling flowers packed away his lurid blooms - 

This was Theresa's England - 

All the numbers here were wrong - 

15.30

Sunday 28 October 2018

Falkland Square

Poole

Well covered ...

We warmed our hands on mugs of Ocean's tea - 

Gulls flew low over the grey choppy sea - 

Anne chaffed a dour silverback - 

Been swimming then ? - 

Two hours this afternoon he said - 

There's a woman up the beach - 

She's been in the water four hours - 

She's going to swim the Channel - 

She's not greased - 

She's well covered - 

15.00

Saturday 27 October 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

Chasing the Northern Lights ...

We wondered what it like to be Chip Hailstone - 

We'd seen him last night on the Travel Channel -

There he was, far beyond the Artic Circle - 

Kayaking in the murderous cold - 

Spearing salmon, skinning seals - 

I wondered what my life would have been like if I'd been called Skip or Chad - 

I'd be there, a hundred miles north of Nome - 

Riding a snowmobile - 

Chasing the Northern Lights - 

19.29

Friday 26 October 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

 

Autumn birds ...

We gazed at Autumn's birds from inside the hide - 

I traced the mysterious patterns of their flight - 

The lost words they traced in the air - 

Jane told us about the birds in her garden - 

Nightjars -  

Swallows, Swifts, Owls - 

I remembered the olive trees -

The scent of orange blossom -

Laughter under the moon - 

11.42

Wednesday 25 October 2018

Arne 

Dorset  

The last of summer ...

The birch trees were still in leaf - 

Here was the last of summer - 

The memory of sunburnt skin -

The taste of salt upon my tongue - 

16.00

Tuesday 23 October 2018

Arne 

Dorset 

Those who now were bone ...

A beautiful silence fell from the evening sky - 

Beneath each pine were the quiet bones - 

If I were to draw back the earth, I'd know each bone - 

Its shape - 

Its weight - 

How it reflected the pale moon - 

I'd then look up, to see faces in the air - 

I'd hold close those who now were bone - 

18.18

Monday 22 October 2018

East Stoke

Dorset 

We could smell the wine dark sea ..

We could smell the wine dark sea in the chancel - 

There were olive trees in the churchyard - 

Lizards basked on the lichened stone - 

Our guests' shadows were cast by a Mediterranean sun - 

17.00

Sunday 21 October 2018

Church of Saint Mary

East Stoke

Dorset 

So much to learn ...

The donkey nibbled the sweet grass - 

I stroked his soft warm neck - 

His name was Martin - 

He'd walked with his human all the way from Scotland -

Cape Wrath to Portland Bill - 

His human's name was Adam - 

I felt the kindness of Martin's gaze - 

I had so much to learn - 

Patience - 

Humility - 

The need to give all you had - 

How to hold the world in a gentle hand - 

13.30

Friday 19 October 2018

Weymouth 

Dorset 

The kitesurfer's sail ...

We sipped cappuccinos whilst watching the October kite surfer - 

His sail was like the wing of some giant spooky insect - 

We watched it move across the pale blue sky - 

Any moment I expected to hear edgy music - 

The beach to become the set for a Sci Fi movie - 

12.30

Friday 19 October 2018

Billy Winters 

Portland 

Dorset 

Le Trou ...

A cineaste ordered a Merlot - 

Neil told me about the New Wave - 

I sipped my red inside the auditorium - 

Two hours of prison noir - 

FIve men, each with a tragic history - 

Tearing a hole through the sorrowful stone - 

Glimpsing the longed for city - 

At the crucial hour, four men betrayed - 

The fifth, pitied by those he had betrayed - 

20.15

Thursday 18 October 2018

The Rex

Wareham

Dorset 

 

Truth entered the room ...

I can picture the cuff links, the dark suits, of the apparatchiks - 

I counted the wrinkles in the back of the chief officer's neck - 

I heard the whisper of cruel agendas - 

The committee room had no windows - 

My comrades spoke with passion and knowledge - 

We whooped with joy when the vote was taken - 

Truth had entered the room like a glorious unexpected guest - 

16.30

Wednesday 17 October 2018

County Hall

Dorchester 

Almost a white van man -

I was almost a white van man - 

Meal deal on the dash - 

Grey trackies - 

A drinker of Red Bull - 

14.45

Tuesday 16 October 2018

A36

Trees walking ...

I tried to see the world as Wallace saw it - 

Trees walking - 

Each day like a year long voyage -

Islands - 

Strange seas - 

The air full of wonders - 

18.01

Monday 15 October 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

All the apples ...

All the apples had fallen from the tree - 

Each last windfall was pearled with raindrops - 

I held them in my hands - 

Some were perfect -

Like holding summer - 

Other were ghost apples - 

Soft and corrupt in my hands - 

Ghost apples - 

Rotten with sweet dizzying cidrous fragrance -

Like hopes gone wrong - 

Spotted with regret - 

Eaten by sorrow - 

11.00

Sunday 14 October 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset

Not as bad as a war ...

The metrics were fearful - 

How far we'd fallen - 

Danny Dorling smiled his sad bruiser's smile - 

Brexit - 

There's nothing left he said - 

It's all bad - 

Every outcome - 

Much worse than Suez - 

He smiled once more - 

It's all bad -

It will all be bad very quickly - 

But not as bad as a war -

12.30

Saturday 13 October 2018

WeyPAW Conference 

Weymouth 

Dorset

The river was rising ...

The river was rising - 

The storm had come to the gentle town - 

Leaves were torn from trees - 

Voices were heard in creaking attics - 

Gulls carried stories from across the ocean - 

Smoke rose up from early fires - 

10.30

Friday 12 October 2018

Wareham

Dorset 

The veiled goddess visits Sainsburys ...

It was a lottery day - 

Gaffers in sad cardigans remembered numbers - 

Young mums waited in the winding queue - 

They, too, had their numbers - 

The drivers of mobility scooters kept up their hopes - 

The veiled goddess visited Sainsburys - 

For a while it was her temple -

09.30

Thursday 11 October 2018

Sainsburys 

Wareham 

Dorset 

The painter of stones ...

We saw again the painter of stones - 

This time he was without his antique camera - 

His beard was longer - 

His wore the same cowboy hat  - 

His trousers were like a painting by Kandinsky - 

Beautiful blue squares - 

Circles the colour of the night sky - 

15.15

Wednesday 7 October 2018

Lulworth Cove

Dorset 

Back at the gym ...

I nodded to the man who reminded me of Les Dawson - 

He heaved himself off the cross trainer with a heavy sigh - 

Victoria Derbyshire was looking concerned on my telly screen - 

I heard the sound my Vans made upon the moving belt -  

A young god greeted another young god - 

The man who looked like Bill Murray gave me a wan smile - 

Survivng then he said - 

11.00

Tuesday 9 October 2018

Purbeck Sports Centre 

Wareham

Dorset 

Reading Nana ...

I'm reading Nana -

For a while, every evening, I'm a sleazy flaneur in the city of light - 

I brush off my creditors - 

I put on my dress-coat - 

The red curtain parts - 

Gas jets flare - 

A fragile Venus has her torrid hour - 

19.49

Monday 8 October 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Ganges ...

Who, I wondered, was Ganges ? - 

I was unaware of the artist's gender - 

I Imagined a lean figure spray painting the word Sailor - 

Adding the question mark - 

A lit cigarette in a clever mouth - 

Ganges - 

13.00

Sunday 7 October 2018

Rodwell Trail 

Dorset 

Soft rain in Salisbury ...

Soft rain fell on glimmering rooftops - 

Five rivers became one in the city - 

The spire overlooked streets shaped by piety - 

A beggar stood before two tins of dog food - 

Don't drop your litter ! he cried - 

Don't drop your litter ! - 

Fallen leaves were like gorgeous discarded bank notes - 

A butcher raised his cleaver - 

The joints of meat were like strange gifts - 

We don't close before the sun goes down the butcher said - 

15.05

Saturday 6 October 2018

Salisbury

Wiltshire 

In Billy Winters ...

We listened to The Mavericks in Billy Winter's Diner - 

I remembered the long burning summer in the cathedral city -

Flying saucers were seen above the dark hill - 

The nights were filled with smoke and secrets - 

A kite surfer skimmed the October waves - 

Penelope and I ordered bean and chorizo soup - 

Alyson said she'd heard from Julia - 

The Mavericks sung another song - 

13.00

Friday October 5 2018

Billy Winter's 

Weymouth 

Dorset 

Bing Bunny holds his hand ...

Wallace's toys lay scattered on the floor - 

He's asleep - 

In his dreams, his world is kind and filled with gentle voices - 

Bing Bunny holds his hand - 

23.02

Thursday 4 October 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset 

Each falling leaf ...

Tessa led me through the Cathedral Close -

The first leaves were falling from the trees - 

We'd had brunch in The Boston Tea Party -

Through the window I'd seen sky and rooftops - 

The spire rose above the autumn city -

Each falling leaf was a word I'd left unspoken - 

12.36

Wednesday 3 October 2018

Salisbury

Wiltshire 

Waiting for a haircut ...

I'm waiting to get a haircut in Paul's - 

There are four silverbacks before me - 

One has a red rollator - 

I look at the framed photograph of Sean Connery - 

Sean's wearing a suit with narrow lapels - 

He's leaning against his Aston Martin - 

I'm bearing up says the man with the red rollator - 

The radio is playing retro pop - 

Paul's laughing his rasping laugh - 

I can already see my face with mirror - 

Another silverback's just sat down - 

Geting old says red rollator - 

Bye young man says Paul - 

15.50

Tuesday 2 October 2018

Paul's 

Wareham 

Dorset  

 

The last swim ...

That was our last swim Anne said -

We pulled on our clothes - 

A silverback strode past us, to stand amongst the dunes - 

I dreamed of jets - 

A turquoise sea - 

Reading verse on white sand - 

15.30

Monday 1 October 2018

Middle Beach

Studland 

Dorset