Friday 31 May 2019

Dreaming of New England lawns ...



I'm reading The Virgin Suicides -

I'm alone on the yellow ship -

Pines shade the rocky shore -

Their long shadows cross the bright water -

I've taken off my father's watch -

There, under the resin scented sky, I dream of New England lawns -


May 2019

On board East Meets West
Off the Lycian Coast, Turkey 

The turtle ...




For a moment I saw it -

Where cool turquoise touched the bright air -

This ancient shape -

This graceful mystery -

Each one of us -

The time we took for a single breath -

Turning towards each other -

Wide eyed, laughing,

Lost in the wonder -

May 2019

On board East Meets West 
Off the Lycian Coast, Turkey 

Thursday 30 May 2019

The sisters remembered their girlhood ...




The sisters remembered their girlhood in the afternoon garden -

The small sister falling into the waves -

The anxious father -

The forbidden streets -.


Each memory uncovered another memory -

Reading Jackie -

Dancing to Top of the Pops -

Wearing eye make up like Twiggy's -


May 2019

Ferring 

Wednesday 29 May 2019

Hunter Gatherer ...




We ate a vegan lunch in Hunter Gatherer -

Richard had read his poems here -

His poems were like shy animals -

His soft voice their gentle net -


May 2019

Hunter Gatherer
Southsea

Tuesday 14 May 2019

Barney ...





Barney's an Irish Terrier Jo said -

He's twelve years old -

If he doesn't want to do something, he won't - 

Barney had an air of beautiful languid melancholy -

Wallace gazed at him with awe -

For him, Barney was a creature of legend -

A gentle prodigy -

A wonder -


May 2019

Scarborough 

The freebie ...




Every chair was full -

The radio was playing Flowers in the Rain -

A new customer came in -

Andy pointed with his scissors -

I put down Carp World -

Hey Will Andy called out -

Would you like a freebie ? - 

My man here's training -

A young tattooed god stepped forward -

It's a freebie -

Andy turned to the man whose hair he'd just finished cutting -

Sir he murmured -

Would you be thinking of an eye brow trim ? - 


Monday 13 May 2019

Barnets
Wareham


Sunday 12 May 2019

Choosing a tattoo ...




Not far from the Vaults, I came across Rob's Tattoo Studio -

I'd just eaten a bacon and egg roll inside the Vaults -

A kindly bruiser had taken my order -

Do you want the egg broken ? he'd asked -

I lingered outside Rob's -

I thought about getting a tattoo -

I gazed at the designs in the window -

Which one would I choose -

A bass guitar ?

A dragon ?

A Confucian sage ?

Yes, the sage -

But not yet, I thought -


Thursday 9 May 2019

Eastborough
Scarborough






Masters of the dangerous bend ...




Grizzled silverbacks were vaping in Valley Road -

They wore oil stained leathers -

Their motorbikes were like brutal sleeping animals -

They stroked their knotted beards -

Lords of petrol -

Masters of the dangerous bend -


11.39
Saturday 11 May 2019

Valley Road
Scarborough 

Walking unknowing ...




We walked through the Italian Gardens -

There were bluebells under salt rimed trees -

Wild garlic flowers -

A view of the sea -

A cloudless sky above The Esplanade -

A girl with dark eyes was serving teas inside The Clock Cafe -

Waiting for my scone,  I gazed at the bleached photographs on the wooden wall -

Women wearing long white dresses -

Children riding gentle donkeys -

The young men who would later go to France -

All walking unknowing across the sands -


14.40
Friday 10 May 2019

The Click Cafe
Scarborough 

Thursday 9 May 2019

New ships ...




Old stone kept off the wind -

I'd climbed the high hill to the castle -

Left behind the church and the town -

Up on the cold walls I could see the wild water -

The long white waves making the sea road to the north -

There were buttercups amongst the salty grass -

Purple flowers growing from the stone -

I stood in a roofless hall -

I climbed the stairs where seagulls watched me pass -

The shard of the keep against the sky -

The wind carrying the years in from the sea -

The chapel, half buried in the earth, a nest of prayer -

The beacon waiting to be lit -

New ships to cross the sea -


11.30
Thursday 9 May 2019

Scarborough Castle 

Wednesday 8 May 2019

Two worlds in Scarborough ...




A willowy barista crafted my cappuccino -

Through the window, I saw the high chimneys of the seafront villas -

Wallace rode a wooden trike through the pristine space -

There were photographs of Edith Sitwell -

A vase of austere flowers -

White walls, abstract art -

Yesterday had been a different world -

The harbour alleys, the narrow stairs -

Pub doorways, the music of jukeboxes -

Glimpses of afternoon drinkers -

Tattoo parlours, the Market Vaults -

The man with the beard of a prophet -

The soiled sleeping bag opposite Greggs -

The words of the girl to her lean mad eyed boy -

Don't be long - 

You heard - 

Don't be long -


10.00
Wednesday 8 May 2019

Woodend
Scarborough  

At the Clifton Hotel ...




I saw the poet's turret room from the rainswept Parade -

I followed the curving reef of sad hotels -

Long waves broke upon the shore -

I glimpse khaki on the stairs -

I look for a word written on the postcard sent back from France -


11.00
Tuesday 7 May 2019

Clifton Hotel
Scarborough 

First day in Scarborough ...




We ate scrambled eggs in the warm kitchen -

Wallace dreamed his dreams of trains -

Outside, rain fell on the high rooftops -

Pensioners wore bomber jackets -

Nippy taxis sought out fares -

Half empty hotels faced the sea -


13.59
Monday 6 May 2019

Scarborough 

LNER ...




I murmured the letters -

LNER -

The long train left the city of dream memory -

I remembered the riverside terrace of Somerset a House -

The egg cast in bronze -

The fountains in the courtyard -

The melancholy river gods -


The edgelands are flying past -

Garages -

Golf courses -

Retail parks -


I'll seek out tea Anne says -

Tea will be seven carriages away -

She stands in the narrow aisle -

We judder and quiver -

The train's like a bucking bronco she says -


14.50
Sunday 5 May 2019

Train to York


Reaching up ...




I saw the face of a friend I'd not seen for forty years -

Changed, yet not changed -

I remembered him playing the shining piano -

The summer moon above the trees -

The promise of the future -

Reaching up with searching hands -

The ripening fruits just above our heads -


May 2018

At the Count ...




I walked amongst the comrades -

I was one of many -

No longer silent -

Blown through the world like smoke -

Touching nothing -

Voiceless -

I was one of many -


Friday May 3 2019

Weymouth 

Sally tells me about the events ...



On all the bridges there were brave dancers -

Songs were sung to the glass towers -

Policemen wept -

The people wore the clothes of change -


Friday 3 May 2019

Weymouth 

Wednesday 1 May 2019

The non voter ...





No -

Throwing down coat - 

I've just come back from work

No - 

Holding back lunging Staffy - 

Closing splintered door - 

No

I'm not voting

No

I'm just not voting - 


Saturday 27 April 2019

Swanage