Reading Herodotus ...

This summer I'll read Herodotus -

I'll board a ship with eyes at its prow -

A hero will hand me wine in a bowl -

Olive trees will shade me -

Gods will talk to me -

I'll feast on magnificent names -


16.00
Monday 29 April 2019

Salisbury 

Each heartbeat ...

We're in the Cathedral Close -

The bright grass laps pale stone -

Each beautiful house has a secret garden -

We're sitting barefoot under shining leaves -

A small plane hangs in the sky -

The Cathedral clock slowly sounds the hour -

The air smells of summer -

Each heartbeat is a song -


14.00
Monday 29 April 2019

Salisbury Cathedral Close

Watching Cinema Paradiso ...

Tears stung my eyes in the darkness -

The screen mirroring all my gentle towns -

Alfredo sitting next to me -

His blind fingers seeking out the memory in my face -


Sunday 28 April 2019

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset

Jay reading a biography of Rimbaud ...

Jay sat under the apple tree reading a biography of Rimbaud -

I remembered reading A Season in Hell -

Russell smoking Balkan Sobranie cigarettes -

We'd listened to the Missa Luba -

Sanctus -

Again and again -

Then the Kyrie -

As though we were revolutionaries -

Or sailing to Africa -

Vagabond poets -

Gun runners -


Sunday 21 April 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

With Anne and Jay at Church Ope Cove ...

We looked down at Church Ope Cove -

The sea welcomed bold swimmers -

I remembered the shining pebbles beneath my feet -

The sound of the November waves -

The beach huts, each with a small salty garden -

Now I wore sunglasses -

Fragrant greenery half hid the box tombs -

Butterflies danced above lichened stone -

The sun was high in the cloudless sky -

I cast a bright shadow upon the tangled grass -


Monday 22 April 2019

Church Ope Cove
Isle of Portland

Books Afloat ...

Jay picked his way through a scree of foxed Penguin Classics -

An ancient in cobwebbed tweed peered through a telescope -

There were models of tramp steamers, ships in bottles, salt stained mess jackets -

Menus from 1930's Cunarders featured outré cocktails -

I unrolled a sea chart which showed The Shambles -

Pale sunlight fell upon a reef of a John Cowper Powys -

Jay held up a ship's crest -

Look he said -

Tiptoe - 

My dad's first submarine -


Thursday 18 April 2019

Weymouth
Dorset 

Wearing a pork pie hat ...

I'd wanted a pork pie hat ever since I'd seen Varnsey wearing one -

He'd worn it at Tolpuddle -

There'd been banners -

A boozy selfie with John McDonnell -

Now I worn mine -

I wore it in The Sailors' Return -

Andy knew the landlady -

You look like a member of Madness Jay said -


Monday 22 April 2019

The Sailors' Return
Weymouth 

The trophy of his heart ...

The rain had stopped -

Amongst the trees we saw the deer -

Their beautiful bodies were half masked by bracken -

They turned their heads towards us -

Creatures of twilight and silence -

I thought of Actaeon -

The moonlit nakedness of the Goddess -

The slim youth transformed -

The velvet covered antlers crowning his head -

The cruel hunt through the woods -

The trophy of his heart -


Wednesday 24 April 2019

Arne
Dorset 

A lunch in Tuscany ...

This is like a lunch in Tuscany -

Jay adjusted his fedora -

The sun, the wine, the olives -

There were forget-me-nots amongst the bright tangled grass -

Beyond the apple tree was an ancient vine -

Birds sang amongst the blossoms -

We sprinkled black pepper upon our omelettes -

A butterfly flew over our heads -

Andy poured out the red wine -

Inside the house there were musical instruments -

A harmonium, a saxophone, a box banjo, Chinese pipes -

Photographs of daughters -

A wood burning stove -

Paintings of pale landscapes -

I was beguiled by the welcoming magician who lived here -

There were his books, his words, his treasures -

There, in the mirror, his gentle smile -


14.00
Monday 22 April 2019

Weymouth
Dorset 

Ocean's coffee ...

We sipped Ocean's coffee with Jay and Bridget -

I felt the vague zinging of far off London electricity -

White yachts were anchored close to the warm shore -

The tide was falling -

We'd walked from Old Harry to South Beach -

As we sat, listening to the small waves, I thought of Bloomsbury -

The austere squares -

The plane trees -

The fountain in the darkness -

The moon framed in an attic window -


Friday 19 April 2019

South Beach
Studland
Dorset

Secret histories ...

Three of us ordered chips in the late night kebab -

Varnsey ordered chicken shish -

The moonlit street was empty -

Small alleyways led to hidden gardens -

Mysterious doors -

The curtained windows of low ceilinged rooms -

The secret histories of this ancient town -


23.00
Saturday 20 April 2019

Bridport 

At The Electric Palace ...

It's like a bacchanal Anne said -

I gulped a dizzying mouthful of Cornish Twilight -

The air inside The Electric Palace was rich and dangerous with cider -

Tipsy dancers swayed in the aisles -

Sunburnt girls threw back their heads -

The beloved musicians cast their spell -

It was as though we danced under apple trees -

Moon ripened fruit above our heads -

Our feet finding ancient steps -



Saturday 20 April 2019


The Electric Palace
Bridport

The angry man ...

He made that Russian statement - 

Russia should rule us after Britax -

I'm angry - 

All these rules, more and more rules - 

Immigrants flooding in - 

All of them in the hospitals - 

There'll be a revolution in France - 

I was in the Forces - 

I've got some respect for Theresa May - 

Not for the rest of them - 

They're all useless - 


Tuesday 16 April 2019


Swanage

Walking to West Holme ...

Walking to West Holme -

Anne and Neil talking softly -

Birds singing -

Dazzling blossom on the blackthorn -


I saw the birch grove where I’d looked out over the edge of the world -

Just over a year ago, I’d stood amongst those beautiful trees -


I’d known what was about to happen -

I’d known what was happening -

A wind blowing those I loved off the edge of the world -


09.44
Thursday 17 April 2019

East Stoke
Dorset

Watching Tim Burton's Dumbo ...

I heard my name called -

There in the dark -


I looked up from where I sat -

Above my head -

I saw once more -

The wonder I thought I'd lost -


19.30
Monday 15 April 2019

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset

Rival scissors ...

A young tattooed god cut my hair in Barnets -

I wanted a different look -

Less of a flaneur -

More of a lean tribune -

I half listened to the banter between the chairs -

I felt a little guilty -

Paul’s was closed today -

I missed his rasping laugh -

He’d know for sure that rival scissors had danced above my head -


10.00
Monday 15 April 2019

Barnets
Wareham

The blue ribbon round the post ...

Shiny Volvos were parked outside the Farrow and Ball farmhouses -

Ancient oaks overlooked pristine lawns -

Birds sang in Sunday Morning gardens -

This was a blue village -

I remembered the words of the wise woman on her doorstep -

The masters would tell their men how to vote -

You could put a blue ribbon round a post and they'd still vote for it -


11.32
Sunday 14 April 2019

Coombe Keynes
Dorset

Roll me down the hill ...

I got both eyes done - 

All Arabs - 

He's Ethiopian - 

They all know me - 

I had three years in the desert - 

Cancer of the eyes - 

Had my eye out on a bit of bamboo - 

First time I saw backwards - 

I'll get there - 

Roll me down the hill - 


Saturday 13 April 2019

Swanage 

The sweet truths of parables ...

There was a craft fair in Holy Trinity Church -

Babushkas selling stuffed toys -

A seal -

A loyal donkey -


I looked at memorial plates -

A boy accidentally drowned - 

The army captain killed near Rothas Kraal  - 


I saw the eagle -

The salt stained bible on brazen wings -

The names of the prophets -

The sweet truths of parables -


14.30
Wednesday 10 April 2019

Strawberry Fields Forever ...

I'm listening to Strawberry Fields Forever in Billy Winters -

The first 45 I ever bought -

The record shop in the tired  town -

Magic in the bright lounge -


I can see the shining bay -

Kite surfers zig zagging -

Bright sails, pale blue sky -

They're playing Penny Lane now -


11.45
Thursday April -

Silencio ...

I'm listening to a languid saxophone -

The red auditorium is almost empty -

I could be in the final scene of Mulholland Drive -


Those curtains -

The faded chanteuse -

A voice sighing Silencio -

19.00
April 10 2018

The Rex
Ware ham 

A Weymouth promise ...

We walked through louche streets -

Elvis was singing outside The Sausage Factory -


There were sad hotels -

Edgy pubs -

Two Albanians with their blue notes -


My birthday soon -

Glimpses of memory on the sands -

A schooner leaving the Old Harbour -


A promise of a twilight cove -

Sunburnt skin -

Women singing -

A turquoise sea -


Tuesday 9 April 2019

Weymouth

A brutal bed ...

The water in the Red Sea is like crystal -

I half listened to the beguiling words -

We were buying diving masks and snorkels -

I'd just seen the sea chart on the wall

There it was -

The Shambles -

Where the poet's brother drowned -

Almost within sight of The Assembly Rooms -

Shingle a brutal bed -

Seaweed in his hair -


12.30
Tuesday 9 April 2019

Old Harbour
Weymouth
Dorset

Ghost yacht ...

From the high hill we saw the yacht -

A ghost yacht -

A single sail like a pale wing -


Sea fret veiled the bay -

Small birds flew across our path -

A cold wind blew through the hawthorn -


12.24
Sunday 7 April 2019

Ballard Down
Studland
Dorset

Above the city ...

I stood with Jane above the city -

The glamour of the paintings still clung to us -

Beautiful and strange -


I remembered the sunflower, held by a terrifying hand -

The mermaids's blue green tail -

The small dog with a child's face -


We gazed down at the river -

The slender bridge -

The pale hours of the late afternoon -


Wednesday April 3 April 2019


Tate Modern
South Bank

Dorothea's room ...

This room would haunt my dreams -

I knew this, as soon as I saw those melting shapes -

The terrifying wallpaper -

That dark rug -

The naked woman, sucked through the membrane of the world -

Those thin arms, clutching her -

The door with its number -

The voices I could not hear -

The silence -

The shadow which will take me through the door -


15.03
Wednesday 3 April 2019

Tate Modern
South Bank 

Lemonade with mint ...

I sipped lemonade with mint out of a jam jar -

Jane wore her new coat -

Glass towers overlooked the river -

Jets flew over the city -

A girl rode a white horse past dark clad creatives -

I shared with Jane the memory of the beautiful garden -

The moon rising -

Figs falling from the tree -


12. 56
Wednesday 3 April 2019

South Bank
London

A different name ...

I'm snarfing a toasted tea cake as though I were a PI -

I should be wearing a slept in suit -


There should be palm trees outside, shading a sidewalk -

LA sunlight falling on the cafe floor -


I should be drinking expresso out of a paper cup -

I should have a different name -


A Camel between my lips -

My smile as weary as the world -



15.03
Tuesday 2 April 2019

Dorchester 

Remembering The Daily Mail ...

I eased myself off the long row - 

I'd not visited the gym for a while - 

I wanted to a eavesdrop a conversation - 

A man wearing grey shorts was talking to Charlie - 

My in laws he said - 

Last Friday evening - 

My father in law - he was drinking a glass of wine - 

He got angry reading the paper - 

He had a heart attack and died - 

I remembered  The Daily Mail Claire had shown me -

We must read it she'd said - 

Know what it says - 

Chaos I'd read - 

Betrayal - 

Saboteur -

Army of hate - 

Perhaps he was reading The Daily a Mail I thought - 

11.00

Monday 1 April 2019

Purbeck Sports Centre 

Wareham 

Dorset