Wearing a suit of air ...

I'm reading Answered Prayers -

Each sentence is like a brilliant tricksy bird -

I should be listening to A Walk on the Wild Side while I read about Kate McCloud -

I picture the writer when he looked like an angelic waif -

Floating perhaps over a bayou -

Looking at the steamy world with an unflinching gaze -

Still flawless with promise -

Wearing a suit of air -


18.58
Thursday 31 January 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Sorrow a stranger ...

The golden light fell on leafless trees -

It was as though I walked with Adam -

The river flowing through the first garden  -

The bright grass unmarked -

Sorrow a stranger -


16.33
Wednesday 30 January 2019

Redcliffe : Wareham
Dorset

Eating almonds ...

Beyond the window there's a white sky -

A darkening garden -

A leafless tree -


I'm eating almonds -

Remembering a marble house -

A warm wind carrying the scent of oranges -


16.45
Tuesday 28 January 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Invisible jets ...

Richard sends me a picture from an early evening's drinking -

Two glasses of dark ale, on a table -

Then one of hands held up before Night Hawks -

Richard tells me Neil Young is singing Like a Hurricane -

I can picture the bar -

The juke box -

The Royal Navy memorabilia -

The model  submarine -

The boys nipping outside to smoke a spliff -

The unsettling pinups in the Gents -

The beautiful woman's brown skin -

Outside the street, the sky -

The invisible jets above the world -


Sunday 28 January 2019


The Sirloin of Beef
Eastney
Dorset

Not hearing hissing voices ...

Baristas wearing skinny jeans crafted macchiatos -

Salisbury creatives ordered Sunday brunches -

We shared a wafer of lemon drizzle -

Anne cut her portion into quarters with the exquisite skill of a neurosurgeon -

I watched a cherub sip a babychino -

Here, we were warm under uneven ceilings -

We could forget the icy wind blowing outside -

The air which would numb our tongues -

The hissing voices which would fill our ears -


11.17
Sunday 27 January 2019

The Boston Tea Party
Salisbury
Wiltshire

My Saint Christopher ...

I'm holding in my hand the Saint Christopher my mum gave me -

She gave it me the day before we flew to India -

Here, this is a holy man she said -

We all knew then about the cruel illness -

I'm an Alzheimer's girl she'd said laughing -

When I hold the medal, I remember the white sands and bright jungles of Kerala -

The tropic sky -

The fishing boats painted artless blue or yellow -

I remember, too, the lounge of memory -

Singing hymns with my mum in the welcoming church -

Walking with her to show her blackberries -

Dancing with her whilst Nat King Cole sang Unforgettable -

Then -

While snow fell -

Her fearful gaze from her last bed -


19.00
Saturday 26 January 2018

The Old School House
East Stoke


Dorset

We could be gun runners ...

I'm listening to Dear Prudence on Spotify -

I first heard The White Album in a bedroom overlooking the sea -

The house was called Hunter's Moon -

I was eighteen years old -

I'd just discovered Rimbaud -

We could become gun runners Russell said -

Dear Prudence was playing across the landing -

The young sun came down from the sky -


16.41
Friday 25 January 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset   

A story I can't understand ...

I don't think of sad things when it's dark -

I save such thoughts for when it's light -

I walk then once more upon Sunday pavements -

Past the high privet hedges -

The leafless tree -

I feel a small hand holding my arm -

A voice I can hardly hear -

A story I can't understand -


10.00
Thursday 24 January 2019

South Street
Wareham 

Only the moment ...

I'm reading Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man -

The pages I'm reading bring it back -

That passionate summer -

The riding stables at the end of the rutted lane -

The ripening fields -

The warmth and smell of the horse I rode -

David, smoking a cigarette as he cantered -

The bridleway through the wood -

Then the open hillside -

The sunshine and bright grass -

The clouds and blue sky -

Leaning forward -

Galloping -

The rush of air against my face -

All sorrow gone -

No thoughts -

Only the moment -

Only joy -


17.00
Wednesday 23 January 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset  

The summer grass ...

There were snowdrops between the lichened stones -

The old names were seldom read -

There were leafless oaks in front of the silent house -

Broken pines touched the icy sky -

Peaty water welled up from the sleeping earth -

There were wheeling stars engraved in glass -

The young dead were remembered -

I thought of them, setting out from these quiet fields -

Carrying with them the memory of the river -

The water flowing over the stones of the ford -

The summer grass upon which they'd dreamed -


11.00
Tuesday 22 January 2019

Moreton
Dorset

The photographer ...

The photographer is glimpsed in a photograph -

His dark clothes -

The dark hat -

The late Victorian side whiskers -


He photographs this ancient world -

Navigates its cruelty and beauty -


The girl brides -

The exquisite ruins -


The pale mountains -

The mandarin -


The gamblers, bent low over their mysterious game -

The unthinking soldiers -


The boat girl, with her headscarf -

Her shy lovely smile -

Meeting my glance across a gulf of time -


12.49
Saturday 19 August 2019


China: through the lens of John Thomson 1868-72
Russell-Cotes Museum & Gallery
Bournemouth

.

Salt on my tongue ...

Looking at the painting, I remembered swimming at Winspit -

The kelp below me, stirred by the languorous waves -

The cliffs rising from the sea -

The warm rocks against my skin -

There, in the dark jewel of the house, I tasted salt once more upon my tongue -


11.00
Saturday 19 January 2019

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
Bournemouth

Moon dust in my hair ...

I'm watching Mortal Engines -

Two hours of crazy Sci Fi steam punk -

Airships piloted by dauntless aviators -

Predatory cities moving across a ravaged planet -

Strange weapons -

Lazarus men - 

Devouring furnaces -

A fragile haven above the clouds -

A mad enemy -

A cool black Amazon of the air -

A youthful scholar turned  warrior -

A beautiful scarred girl -

All at once, I felt all of the thrill I'd felt, thirteen years old -

Reading a foxed Sci Fi pulp -

Moon dust in my hair -


19.30
Thursday 17 January 2019

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset 

There's always hair ...

Paul's scissors danced above my head -

I'd read two Carp Worlds before he called me to the chair -

Brexit he said -

He laughed his rasping laugh -

Stilled the razor sharp scissors -

I haven't exactly got a long supply chain he said -

He laughed again -

There's always hair ! -


11.45
Friday 18 January 2019

Paul's
South Street
Wareham 

Like murmurations of starlings ...

There were no seagulls this morning on the rooftops -

I gazed beyond the weather-worn tiles towards the sky -

I imagined living in one of those attic rooms -

Dreaming beneath a sloping ceiling -

Each night, climbing a narrow stair -

I'd hear the wind blowing above the gentle town -

Hear the stories blown in from the sea -

Swirling around the chimneys like murmurations of starlings -


11.30
Thursday 17 January 2019

South Street
Wareham
Dorset

Known in Java -

There was a gentle Indie band playing on the radio -

I smoothed out my crumpled i -

A man with a Lynchian quiff crafted a cappuccino - 

I ordered artisan soup with sourdough bread - 

Kieran had looked my way - 

What will it be boss ? he'd asked - 

I'm known, I thought - 

I've arrived - 

13.15

Wednesday 17 January 2019

Java Independent Coffee House

Swanage 

Bringing a warm sun to a pale garden ...

I'm reading Reflections on a Marine Venus - 

Each sentence is rich and tender - 

Bringing a warm sun to a pale garden - 

Or like swimming in a moonlit sea - 

Held up by a gentle wine dark wave - 

The bright stars just above my head - 

16.25

Tuesday 15 January 2019

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A dream beast ...

A Victorian hand stuffed this head - 

Magicked its glaring eye - 

There it is - 

Not far from the river and leafless poplars - 

A dream beast - 

A trophy head for the gentle town -  

Monday 14 January 2019

St John's Hill

Wareham 

Dorset 

Barrington ...

We stopped outside Barrington - 

The house lay beyond the laurel trees -

We were halfway up the steep road to Ballard Down -

Below us was the village and the ancient church - 

Beyond that, the wide harbour, the silent islands amidst mazy channels - 

Barrington, I thought, could be the location for an English murder - 

A wealthy aunt poisoned by a bewitching niece - 

A scoundrel bludgeoned by a rival in love - 

A vicar toppling down a narrow stair - 

All these murders might have happened here - 

I expected to see Captain Hastings - 

Hercule Poirot with his fastidious mincing gait - 

Inspector Japp, driven up the road in his Wolsely - 

A murder solved in an afternoon - 

13.48

Sunday 13 January 2018

Ballard Glebe

Studland 

Dorset

Anniversary ...

You scribble a few words on a page, Lawrence Durrell says - 

The poem will emerge - 

I scribble my words - 

I write them down - 

I look at the words - 

I cross a few of them out - 

I scribble a few more -

The doctor -

Mid afternoon - 

Anguish - 

He's not giving me anything - 

I love you - 

19.30

Saturday 12 January 2019

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A gentle hand, a hand made of air ...

We followed our path between leafless hazel - 

Pale sunlight fell upon chalk and flint - 

Dark trees marked far off hilltops -

We saw two stonechats - 

Then a kestrel - 

Rich mud filled a sunken lane - 

A chill river ran past still dreaming trees - 

We came at last to the lonely church - 

There were snowdrops beneath our feet - 

Stilled bells inside the tower - 

A sheaf of wheat hung from the pulpit - 

The angel appeared before the Virgin - 

A gentle hand, a hand made of air, touched me on the shoulder - 

12.29

Friday 11 January 2019

Church of St Mary the Virgin

Tarrant Crawford

Dorset