Pilgrims from the green villages

I saw the pilgrims from the green villages -

Old and young, making a gift of their hearts -


They formed a circle on the hilltop -

I heard their songs -


I saw a rainbow above the water -

I heard music from the ancient woodlands -


The wind blew against my face -

Sunlight fell from heaven -


Sunday 29 September 2019


Ballard Down
Dorset

The New Bengal ...

Seeking out The Queens Hotel we found The New Bengal -

I'd never gone there before midnight -

I remembered the courtly waiters -

Their patience with our drunkeness -

Our wild quotations -

A copy of Lyrical Ballads in Russell's pocket -

I tasted again the fiery curry -

The electric shards of onion -

The dizzying red in a clumsy glass -


Thursday 26 September 2019

Gosport
Hampshire  

These roads my heartlands ...

This had been my young world -

These roads my heartlands -

Here my young story was written -

Here I was as green as spring -

Here, in that garden, I picked sorrow from a fragrant tree

Here, on that pavement, I held a singing bottle to my mouth -

Here, behind that window. I heard a song I never forgot -

here, in that house, I'd been held in a girl's brown arms -

Her thick dark hair had promised summer -


Thursday 26 September 2919

Gosport
Hampshire 

I love you for your beat beat beat ...

The band played a cover of a Joe Jackson song -

I felt all at once the melancholy of not having a girlfriend -

Chris played electric bass ukelele -

One of the band wore a pork pie hat

Silverbacks swayed in time -

A sign above the bar said cocktails 241 all night -

Another sign said woo woo -

There was dancing -

The band sang a new song -

I don't love you for your party card -

I don't love you for your graveyard eyes - 

I love you for your beat beat beat -


Thursday 27 September 2019

The Royal Albert
Southsea
Portsmouth 

An Aquacar waited outside a silent house ...

There's Led Zeppelin man Richard said -

The man with corkscrew curls walked swiftly past us -

He looked straight ahead -

It was getting darker -

Jukeboxes spilled their songs -

An Aquacar waited outside a silent house -


Wednesday 25 September 2019

Southsea
Portsmouth

Tupelo ...

I'm driving in the rain at night -

Murderous trees -

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -

Tupelo -

What world is this ?


Tuesday September 24 2019

Harman's Cross
Dorset 

The telling now of the cruel story ...

Rain fell -

Waves broke upon the darkening shore -


The telling now of the cruel story -

Ash cast upon the green world -


Monday 23 September 2019


The Mowlem
Swanage 

A guitar waiting for a song ...

I'm spending Sunday afternoon in Tessa's flat -

There are white flowers in a vase -

Spooky graphic novels -

Incense sticks from Kochi -

A guitar waiting for a song -


Sunday 23 September 2019

Salisbury  

Icarus dying in the rain ...

A young god in leathers overtook us -

An Icarus with wings of glorious speed and oil -

Yet too fast -

Flying blind -


Moments later, past the bend, we saw the flames -

The black smoke -

Icarus dying in the rain -


Saturday 21 September 2019

Rempstone
Dorset 

Act now ...

The white yacht was beached on the roundabout -

Beyond the heaped shingle was the rising sea -

There were vapour trails in the Ballardian sky -

We sang our way through the hilly streets -

Our fervent gang was one of many -

Our voices were given power by the voices of hundreds of thousands -

Upon the yacht's hull were the two words that meant so much -

Act now ! -


Friday 20 September 2019

Fortuneswell
Isle of Portland
Dorset 

The Triumph Herald in West Street ..

Driving down West Street, I saw a 1970s Triumph Herald -

I admired its tiny rakish fins -

I remembered driving with Russell -

His Triumph Herald was a miracle of rust and smoke -

Matthew, the noble English sheepdog, took up the whole of the back seat -

My feet would rest upon a carpet of empty Marlboro cigarette packets -

There'd be a foxed Season in Hell in the glove box -

A memory of a song by The Doors inside my head -

Once we stopped to pick up a hitchhiker -

The boy wore purple loons -

Do you need a lift Russ asked him -

We're going to Mordor -


Thursday 19 September 2019

West Street
Wareham
Dorset

A last swallow ...

Wind sculpted hawthorn framed the sky -

A last swallow flew from the high hill -

The air held it like a gift -

The marvellous sickle of its wings -

The joy in its flight above the sea -


Ballard Down
Studland
Dorset 

Wind as red as the apple I've just eaten ...

I read the lines of the poem -

The strange beautiful words -


Birds sang in the tree -

I ate one of the sweet wind-fallen apples -


Later, I thought, I'll watch the former angel in the high ceilinged bar -

The girl from the circus will dance -

At first languidly, then she'll shake her long hair -

No cold heaven -

Wine as red as the apple I've just eaten -


Tuesday 17 September 2019


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Snared by a smile ..

I'm reading my old diaries -

Each young word -


I see myself -

Wide eyed -

Edgy as a young hare -


Held by skilful hands -

Snared by a smile -


Monday September 16 2019


The Old School a House
East Stoke
Dorset

A fallen leaf ...

Another madeleine -

This caramel wafer biscuit -

A fallen leaf on the surface of a clear sea -


I picture the front room in Palmyra Road -

The deck chair a boat of memory -


Homes and Gardens in Mrs Knight's freckled hand -

The wafer biscuits on a plate from Malta -

The pale lino around the carpet -


I'm listening to gossip in the afternoon -

Later, in my bed, to music from the tiny radio -

Closing my eyes -

My new watch round my wrist -

The night full of stars -


Sunday 15 September 2019

South Beach
Studland
Dorset

Salt in my hair ...

Salt in my hair -

My skin still dusted with sand -

My heart still racing -

My clothes cast upon a bed of shells -

All this a gift of the moment -

Of sudden sunshine -

Of the forgiving sea -


Saturday 14 September 2019


South Beach
Studland
Dorset 

A piece of summer ...

Tall pines were lapped by bracken -

Bees hoarded sweet treasure in their hive -

Golden light bathed our faces -

Long necked birds flew across the sky -

They're flying south Neill said -

We watched them flying -

Each wingbeat taking away a piece of summer -


Friday 13 September 2019

Wareham Forest

Waiting for the moon to fall ...

I walked barefoot in the midnight garden -

The moon was a white apple above the tree -

The slow river had netted stars -

I heard the whisper of the tree -

My skin was as pale as palest bone -

I held up my hands -

I waited for the moon to fall -


Saturday 7 September 2019

East Stoke
Dorset 

A Lowry above the settee ....

There was a Lowry in the lounge of memory -

Coming from the Mill above the sofa - 

I'd glance at it when Foyle's War was on -

ITV3 in the early evening - 

The white sky above the chimneys - 

The thin black figures - 

Stooped and hurrying - 

The yellow windows - 

Watching Timothy Spall in the movie, I thought of those long evenings - 

The actor took off his raincoat - 

Hung up his trilby -

His sigh filled the wounded house - 

Saturday 7 September 2019

The Rex

Wareham

Dorset  

Falling ...

I'm listening to Julee Cruise -

She's singing Falling -

I'm ravished by sadness and wonder -


I see all those who held me close -

Who held me naked in their arms -


Tuesday 10 September 2019


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Soft rain ...

The rain has stopped -

Raindrops fall from the apples on the tree -

I remembered the wet hillside above the ocean -

The seals garlanded with kelp -

Berny O'Shea lighting the turf fire -

Our young bones like green branches -

Berny looking out the small window -

Tis a soft rain he'd said -


Monday 9 September 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Dorothy's slippers ...

I gazed at the photograph of Dorothy's ruby slippers -

I put down my glass -

I remembered the wooden house, whirling through the air -

The loyal companions -

The hateful flying monkeys -

The Emerald City -

Dorothy's wish to go home -

I glanced down at my own shoes -

They were coloured blue and I wore no socks -

I was a long way from Kansas -

I wondered if I tapped my heels together where I would return to -

My Kansas a world away -

Yet still longed for -

Still there -


Saturday 7 September 2019

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset 

Don't be shy ...

The King of Sausages was steeped in melancholy -

Three packs a tenner -

None of his usual banter -

No proud vaping over his spicy wares - 

Three packs - come on now -

Don't be shy -

All of it the best - 

Come on now - 

All of it going -

Sausages - 

Don't be shy - 

Saturday 7 September 2019

Saturday Market

The Town Quay 

Wareham

Breathing in Autumn ...

Tall ferns half hid the folly -

I followed the zig zag of a dragonfly -

Remembered the blue blackness of blackberries -

Breathed in Autumn from the air -


West Lulworth
Dorset 

Gosport pilgrimage ...

Soon I'll walk with a Richard down boyhood roads -

We'll cross the water with our ghosts -

We'll remember songs we thought we'd lost -

We'll seek out our sacred way -

We'll make our pilgrimage -


Friday September 6 2019


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Drawn curtains ...

I can already see the drawn curtains -

The white van -

The grab rails each side of the front door -

The discarded armchair in the wild garden -

The prim notice above the ferocious letter box -

No cold callers -

No canvassing -

Go away and do not return -


Wednesday 4 September

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

I wanted the journey to never end ..,

I wanted the journey to never end -

The radio chirruping in the darkness -.

The cool hand in mine, for just a moment -


Wednesday 4 September 2019


Weymouth 

I think of Auden ...

I'm in Re-Loved again -

Satchmo's growling I'm in heaven -

There's Dorset Apple Cake -

An antique television -

A woman with red hair -

Lamps that look like parrots -

I think of Auden sitting in the bar on fifty second street -

The gangsters in sleek Jaguars -

Their oily blag -

This is my England now -

My poisoned world -


Tuesday 3 September 2019

Re-Loved
Dorchester 

Swimming with Chagall ...

I wondered if this would be our last swim -

Swimming in the clear shallows, over white shells -

Looking back at the green shore -

Imagining myself in a painting by Chagall -

Flying above the sand -

Hearing the music of those who became smoke -

Waiting for a shy moon -

There, I was out of my depth -

Swimming beyond the nearest yachts -

Knowing now there would always be a time for swimming -

For taking off my watch -

For the moments in the sea to last forever -


Sunday 1 September 2019


South Beach
Studland
Dorset

Marvellous words ...

I saw the messages - 

Chalked on the pavements of the louche streets - 

Act now - 

Join us - 

I saw flags raised high - 

With marvellous words - 

Disobey - 

Rebel - 

Saturday 31 August 2019

Weymouth

Dorset 

Tarantino ...

The Tarantino was a glorious crazy monster -

I cruised LA in a white Cadillac -

Killers stalked canyon roads -


I was dazzled by Brad's sexy smile -

Leonardo's tears matched mine -


Friday 30 September 2019

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset 

Golden days ...

I've thought of the words -

Always remembering their golden days -


The cricket match under a gentle sky -

The vicar's tombola -


The path along the river bank

The Vauxhall Viva -


My sunburnt skin -

My crew cut -


The days were long then -

They were golden -


Friday 30 August 2019

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Reading Vasily ...

This winter, I'll read Vasily Grossman's Stalingrad -

I'll see shturmoviks fly across a pitiless sky -

Wear a red star in my hair -


Thursday 29 August

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

The birch trees ...

The birch trees were still there -

Silent and slender -

Knowing my footsteps -

I'd stood amongst them, that afternoon -

The wind blowing through their leafless branches -

My world changing -

Glimpsing my new world -

The pale sky reaching down -

The river carrying my words away -


Wednesday 28 August 2019!

East Stoke
Dorset

Her golden coat ...

The golden coat still held the warmth of all her summers - 

I remembered her running through a ripening field - 

The white stones in the dry river bed - 

Goats eating withered oak leaves - 

Swallows above the cypress trees - 

The afternoon silence of the valley - 

The joy of her running - 

The coolness of the hall in the marble house - 

Tuesday 27 August 2019

Ferring

West Sussex 

Their voices like those of birds ...

The welcoming garden had seven trees -

I lay under the mimosa tree -

I gazed upwards, marvelling at the feathery green -

Far above me, a jet marked the sky -

Sunlight fell upon the garden -

I thought of those who walked in another garden -

Their voices like those of birds in trees touching heaven -


Monday 26 August 2018

Ferring
West Sussex 

My small shirt ...

The warm sea held me close -

Each evening wave washed memory against my skin -

I remembered the rocky shore of the bright island -

Swimming the first time -

Amazed at the miracle -

The clear water -

The ones I loved asking me to follow them -

The dark bread upon the beach -

The church bells ringing -

The cool hall of the stone house -

The courtyard -

My small shirt drying on the branches of the tree -


Sunday 25 August 2019

Ferring
West Sussex 

Being a salaryman ,,,

A wide eyed girl is held above the city by a winged boy -

A corporate assassin plans his kill -

Alice turns her bewildered head -

Two figures are entwined upon a narrow bed -

An arrow pierces a samurai'a neck -

I gaze at each drawing -

As though I, too, were a salaryman -

On my way to an izakaya -

Tired of my dark suit -

Longing to tear off my shirt -


Saturday 24 August 2019

Manga Exhibition
British Museum 

Looking at a painting by Frank Bowling ...

The artist turned his mother's house into an ark -

Floated it on a dark sea -

Its windows and shutters were the colour of old dried blood -

There were no stars in the sky above -

Sad ships crossed that dark sea -

No songs were sung during that long night -


Friday 23 August 2019

Frank BowlingExhibition
Tate Britain