The empty sky ...

Driving to the Sports Centre, I felt, for just a moment, the chill of my schoolboy dread of Games - 

The barrel chest of the Welshman, our teacher - 

Reacing for his plimsoll - 

Whacking the sluggardly and the timid - 

The bigger boys -

The horror of the showers - 

The ropes in the gym - 

The appalling horse - 

The rain drizzling on the rugby field - 

The only solace, the cross country - 

Running fast and alone - 

Escaping - 

Thin body light as air - 

The fields each side of the path - 

The empty sky above - 

17.30

Thursday 29 November 2018

Wareham

Dirset 

The three flints ...

These three stones were shaped deep in time -

The river flowed then through the wildwood -

Hunters called each animal by its secret name - 

The high hills touched the winter moon - 

The sharp flints waited for a shaman's hand - 

11.00

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Poole Museum 

Burne-Jones at the Tate ...

For a while I walked with serpents - 

Watched sleepers dream in tangles of rose and thorn - 

I threw my arms around an almond tree -  

I saw a baleful head - 

The steps of golden stairs - 

I held my breath inside the caverns of the sea - 

I counted the last heart beats of a drowning boy - 

Friday 16 November 2018

Tate Britain 

King of the world ...

This was a world in which gods spoke to bearded kings -

Here there were lions to be shot full of arrows - 

Gardens in the desert - 

Temples from which to read the stars - 

Terrifying names written in sun baked clay - 

Wonder and cruelty without limit - 

Friday 16 November 2018

I am Ashurbanipal 

British Museum

London 

Bright islands ...

Joe's was closed - 

The cold waves broke upon the empty beach - 

There were dark coils of seaweed cast upon the sand - 

This was our summer place - 

Swimming in the warm shallows - 

Eyes closed, swimming towards the sun - 

Geese flew towards Old Harry - 

I thought of bright islands - 

Fig trees, a prickly pear, a lizard on a twilight wall - 

14.00

Sunday 25 November 2018

South Beach

Studland 

Dorset 

Christmas B&Q

The car park in front of B&Q was the size of a small airfield - 

Rain swept over the massed Skodas - 

Inside, we wandered through dream kitchens - 

Artificial Christmas Trees promised happiness - 

15.15

Saturday 24 November 2018

B&Q

Poole

Listening to Morrissey in Billy Winters ...

I'm in Billy Winters - 

Morrissey is singing every day is like Sunday - 

The cool dudes look out the window at the sea - 

A kite surfer's sail is like a yellow feather - 

I remember the snaky neck of the cormorant - 

How it held out its wings - 

Drying the jet black feathers - 

The island rises up from the slate grey waves - 

Beyond the cliffs are strange villages - 

Stone cottages with winding stairs - 

I listen to Morrissey - 

I pick up a bamboo knife - 

I can still feel the touch of a yellow feather upon my tongue - 

12.00

Friday November 23 2018

Billy Winters 

Weymouth 

Reading After London ...

I'm reading Richard Jeffrries' After London - 

The first fire of winter warms the room - 

I lit it when I saw the moon in the starless sky -

Pine cones smoulder - 

Flames rise up from burning logs - 

The smoke smells of summer - 

Cut grass - 

A sliced open apple - 

Smooth brown skin - 

I read of cities lost in the wildwood - 

Fallen towers covered by labyrinths of thorn and willow - 

A dark orb brushing against the world - 

I look out the window - 

The moon is netted by the branches of the leafless tree - 

Thursday 22 November 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Snug in gaffer's tweed ...

Logs smouldered inside the wood burning stove - 

Radiators warmed kindly alcoves - 

Dorset Apple Cake graced sturdy china - 

I pictured myself, snug in gaffer's tweed - 

Here, in the years ahead - 

Taking off my alpaca gloves - 

Shown my chair with the view of the poplars -

The river running to the sea - 

I'd drink my toddy in its heavy glass - 

I'd wait for the moon to fill the sky - 

15.31

Wednesday 21 November 2018

The Granary

Wareham 

Dorset 

Reading The Prince ...

I remember smoking Gitanes in Bloomsbury -  

It was early summer - 

I had a leather jacket -

I wore a shirt the colour of the sky -

I lay on the grass under a London tree - 

I put down the narrow book - 

I pictured the murderous condottiere - 

The beautiful shape of the Duomo - 

That was how it was, I thought - 

Everyone sees you what you appear to be - 

Few experience what you really are - 

18.40

Tuesday 22 November 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The black Riley ...

There it was - 

The black Riley - 

The leather bench seat - 

The brutal chrome - 

I thought myself a character in a story by Stephen King - 

The shy librarian - 

The careworn sheriff - 

The Riley exuded strangeness - 

If I opened the boot, cruel shapes would fly out - 

The gentle town would darken - 

Pale flowers reflect the light of a devouring moon - 

11.34

Monday 19 November 2018

Wareham

Dorset 

Remembered city ...

I sat with my moleskine listening to dreamy jazz - 

I gazed out the window - 

I'd seen a gallery with exquisite installations - 

I'd walked through evening streets half woven from memory - 

The waitress placed the stools upon the pristine tables - 

A boy closed his laptop - 

It would soon be time to leave - 

I'd see a fountain and leafless trees - 

The gorgeous reef of a sleepless hotel - 

The room where I'd read my books - 

The starless sky above my remembered city - 

18.00

Thursday 15 November 2018

The Penny Drops

London 

Lavender Hill ...

I walked without looking back -

I walked down Lavender Hill, my eyes cast down - 

If I looked back, I knew my eyes would prick with tears - 

I'd see my captive heart - 

Held tight in guiltless hands -

16.30

Thursday 15 November 2018

Lavender Hill

London

Driving to London ...

We're driving to London - 

There's spooky hip hop on the radio - 

White vans smoulder on slip roads - 

13.09

Friday 15 November 2018

M 3 

near Fleet Services

Those tiny socks ...

Paul's carried the suitcases to the waiting car -

Wallace's toys are now cleared away - 

We'll live in a silent house - 

That little red coat - 

Those tiny socks - 

09.35

Friday 15 November 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Beauty in the street ...

We held up our banners -

I felt the heartbeat of the crowd -

The dark -

Our voices -

The stale light of the Council Chamber - 

The hollowed out men and women -

A small coin on each tongue or else dust -

A coat with pockets full of stones -

How could this compare with the beauty in the street  ?

19.00

Tuesday 14 November 2018

Poole 

Seagulls ...

Seagulls were dangerous shapes above the river - 

Swirling white voices in the air - 

The river rising - 

Dark clouds in the twilight sky - 

A thin moon above the leafless trees - 

16.30

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Wareham 

Dorset 

Wearing a white poppy ...

The last post sounded in the church - 

I'd come forward with my wreath - 

I wore my white poppy - 

Earlier I'd seen a young man in khaki - 

He wore the uniform of those who'd gone to France - 

He though was living, carrying his rife - 

Breathing the same air as those around him - 

The Councillors, the townspeople, the wreath bearers - 

Reminding us of the dead ones - 

If we turned round, we'd see them - 

We'd smell their air - 

We'd feel the weight of all their names - 

We'd find the words stolen from our tongues - 

15.00

Sunday 11 November 2018

Swanage 

Nurses with winged hats ...

The thing is - 

Paul laughed his rasping laugh, put down the shining scissors - 

She's 93 - 

She didn't want to go - 

You've got to remember the mindset - 

When she hears the word hospital, she thinks of an infirmary - 

You don't want to go there -

You won't get out - 

Nurses with winged hats - 

A doctor in the corridor with a saw - 

11.00

Saturday 10 November 2018

Paul's 

Wareham 

Dorset 

Heartbeats counted by the waves ...

What would Turner make of this sky ? 

This sea ? 

This slow unfolding of the world - 

These clouds - 

These torn trees cast up upon the sand - 

This end of the world light ? 

Small birds danced within reach of the tide -  

I felt the nearness of bone - 

The fire of Autumn in the leaves - 

The heartbeats counted by the waves - 

10.00

Friday 9 December 2018

Knoll Beach 

Studland

Dorset