Lady Madonna was on Radio One ...

I'm reading Homage to Catalonia -

The Penguin cost me five old shillings -

Lady Madonna was on Radio One -

I wore a velvet  jacket -


It all came back -

Reading these yellowy pages -

Smoking Players Number 6 -

Wondering how you said the words - seremos invencibles -

Falling in love with a girl living in Chantry Road -



Saturday 29 February 2020



The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

A cold hand ...

I can feel it -

Even here -

The wind from the edge of the world -

Blowing all before it -

From one darkness to another darkness -

A cold hand against my face -



Friday 28 February 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Hole In My Shoe ...

I'm listening to Hole In My Shoe -

I remember the jewelled birds -

My eyes opened to wonder -




Thursday 27 February 2020



The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

The weight of those pinnacled towers ...

I felt the weight of those pinnacled towers -

The false magic of those gilded halls -

Tear it down, I thought -

Tear it down -



Tuesday 25 February 2020


Westminster 

Before I knew it ...

I called him Richard before I knew it -

I was charmed by his exquisite cuffs -

The beautiful suit -

The daughter now at Holland Park -

I shook myself awake -

But there's poverty I said -



Tuesday 25 February 2020


Westminster 

Neill knew this wide street ...

Neill knew this wide street -

The gracious town houses -

The winding alleys, the panamas in Snooks -

We'd gazed earlier at the wild sea -

The rising cliffs -

Now we gazed at foxed Penguins, a Picture Post from 1943 -

There were hearty yarns by Percy F Westerman -

Beautiful essays by Llewellyn Powys -

A courtly man in tweed wrote a fastidious cheque -

We ate a bacon sandwich in Beach & Barnicott -

We heard Northern Soul -.

The rain fell on high roofs -

Clouds came in from the sea -

I remembered seeing Colmer's Hill -

The mysterious trees -

The moon caught in their outstretched branches -



Monday 24 February 2020


Bridport

The detectorists ...

The detectorists sweep their wands over the glistening sand -

It's low tide -

From the dunes we watch them delve under the end times sky -

Figures from a story -

Searching for salvage amongst the shells -

Treasure trove from earlier times -

Their ragged tribe living near the shore -

Their songs telling their history -

Their sun long hidden behind the clouds -


Sunday 23 February 2020


Bramble Bay
Studland
Dorset 

Remembering Atta Troll ...

The bear waited at the foot of the stairs -

I was woozy after Fossil Fuel -


The memory came back -

The name of the poet -


The bright afternoon -

The bear dancing -




Friday 21 February 2020


The Bear
Wareham
Dorset

Beguiled ...

I'm reading Jocelyn Brooke's The Image of The Drawn Sword -

I'm beguiled -


Those spooky names -

Glamber -

Clambercrown -


The smoke from the burning leaves -

The sea glimpsed from the empty hill -

The bugle call, hardly heard, at dusk -


The dream becomes a nightmare -

Seek it if you dare -



Friday 21 February 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Itt's just the rain ...

You're on form Paul I said -

Paul laughed his rasping knowing laugh -

He picked up his dangerous scissors -

It's just the rain he said -

You get up -

Look out the window -

And it's just rain -

All you want to do is go back to bed -

Earlier, I'd glanced at the pages of a Freemasonry Today -

You're right Paul I said -



Thursday 20 February 2020



Paul's
Wareham
Dorset 

New apples on the wounded tree ...

I remembered the high valley and the lake -

The dark dripping pines -

The deer, hanging dead and beautiful -

The sky between the mountains -

The gravestones with their messages -

Lost in the East -


The sorrowful film took me away from the remembered valley -

I journeyed to a terrible place -

I walked in circles in a desolate garden -

I was mocked and beaten -

I saw men weeping in their final moments -

The black curtain was pulled back -

I glimpsed the waiting blade -

Yet there was light after the dark -

Three girls laughing amongst the flowers -

New apples on the wounded tree -



Wednesday 19 February 2020


The Rex
Wareham
After watching A Hidden Life  

Learning to disobey ...

I felt my heart lurch inside its nest of bone -

My eyes prick with tears -

These rebels with their truth telling -

Their welcome, their dancing -

Here was where I should be -

Learning to be brave -

Learning to disobey -


Tuesday 18 February 2020


County Hall
Dorchester 

Practising a smile before a mirror ...

The meeting took me back -

The polished agenda -

The smile practised before a mirror -

The offer of biscuits and coffee -

I remembered being an apparatchik -

The dark suit -

The white shirt -

 Counting out my words like small coins -



Monday 17 February 2020


Royal Bournemouth Hospital  

The man with star ...

We're driving to Salisbury listening to Last Chance Texaco -

Rain falls on empty farms -

Clouds fill the sky -


We could be driving across Kansas -

We could be looking for the man with the star -



Sunday 15 February 2020


A354
near Tarrant Hinton 

Keeping the faith ...

I forgot the caveats of armchair campaigners -

This was what I should be doing -

Talking to the boy who'd just finished his shift at Greggs -

The pensioners from Telford -

The wary silverback -

Bearing witness in the windy street -

Feeling the rain against my face -

Keeping the faith -



Saturday 15 February 2020


Swanage 

Giovanna led us singing ...

Giovanna led us singing down Cornhill -

We followed her with our flags and voices -

Singing out against those who would burn the world -

They wore their lies like beautiful clothes -

All they would leave was ash and bitter water -



Friday 14 February 2020


Dorchester 

A tropic sun in the Dorset sky ...

Water lapped against the door of The Old Granary -

Cherished Skodas were endangered by the tide -

The slow river had overflowed its banks -

The gentle town was now part of a drowned world -

In time, flamingos would nest on St John's Hill -

Emerald creepers would hang from the lampposts -

Spooky orchids would cover the effigy of T E Lawrence -

Iguanas would bask in South Street -

A tropic moon would burn in the Dorset sky -



Thursday 13 September 2020


The Town Quay
Wareham
Dorset 

Riding with the Irishman ...

Last night I rode with the Irishman in the killing car -

Drugstore windows reflected our cruel fins -

Our chrome mouth shone in the light of the American moon -

We drove past Italian restaurants -

Men with wizened faces poured themselves murderous chasers -

I wore, like the Irishman, an inscrutable mask -

I slept in gaudy hotels -

I saw the murder of a president on a smoky screen -

I smelled the oily smell of dollars -

I watched the final killing -

A single tear on the Irishman's cheek -

I was engulfed by this timely parable -

Keep the door open Father the Irishman said -



Wednesday 12 February 2020

The Rex
Wareham
Dorset

Between storms ...

The cove was bathed in golden light -

We'd walked past the empty holiday cottages -

Narrow pebbled paths led to blue doors -

Thatched roofs enfolded chill bedrooms -

For a moment, the air was still -

We were between storms -

We stood on the beach of white stones -

I wore no watch -

We waited for the wind -




Tuesday 11 February 2020


Lulworth Cove
Dorset 

The memory of the storm ...

Anne dried the sleeves of her coat before the wood burning stove -

The pristine cafe was almost empty -

Outside, icy waves broke against the dunes -

Shining stones had been cast up on the sand -

The sky held the memory of the storm -



Monday 10 February 2020


Studland
Dorset 

Storm Ciara ...

It's like being a character in J G Ballard's The Wind from Nowhere -

The wind shaking the Zoe -

Witnessing the invisible fury of the air -

Hearing its voice in the chimney -

Watching its chill fists strike the gentle town -



Sunday 9 February 2020


Wareham
Dorset

The dandy ...

I admired the sparkling shirt -

The cut of his coat -

Oh yes he said -

It's an opera coat -

I'm looking for a Fred Astaire white tie and tails -

I sipped my village hall coffee -

The gentle town's dandy looked at my long tweed coat -

Do you like dressing up he asked -

My father never liked me dressing up - 

He liked anything with four legs or a ball going into a goal -


Saturday 8 February 2020


Wareham
Dorset  

I am Spartacus ..,

I was in the gym when I heard that Kirk Douglas had died -

There was his face, on the telly screen above the cross trainers -

Those fierce eyes -

That gladiator's chin -


Spartacus had been part of my growing up -

Queuing up for tickets in The Ritz -

Wide eyed, watching the scary sword play -

Later, playing gladiators with sticks -


Then, years layer, in a midnight bar with Richard -

First one, then the other, over the Jamesons -

I am Spartacus -

I am Spartacus -



Friday 7 February 2020


Purbeck Sports Centre
Wareham
Dorset

My heart a hare ...

There are snowdrops in the churchyard -

A white moon in the sky - 

Time passing - 

Stars netted by trees - 

My heart a hare - 

Dancing on a high hill - 

Thursday 6 February 2020

The churchyard 

St Mary the Virgin

East Stoke 

Dorset 

I could be a speed king ...

I could be a speed king I thought -

Eating my bacon roll in this garage cafe -

Watching the mechanics -

At ease after sly chicanes -



Wednesday 5 February 2020


Rainbow Cafe
Winfrith
Dorset

Digging for joy ...

That boy digs for joy said Peggotty -

I saw her on the screen -

There they were, above the silver headed great and the good of the gentle town -

Mr Dicks, with his wordy kite above the summer meadow -

Mr Murdstone with his cruel big hands -

The cringing Heep -

Steerforth, asking to be remembered at his best -

Micawber, dining alfresco in the rookery -

Every meal a picnic -

David, digging for joy -

He found it too, that boy -



Monday 3 February 2020


The Rex
Wareham
Dorset 

The man from Everest ...

The man from Everest wore an Essex smile -

His landship glowed under the pines -

Ted Moult he said -

Ah yes, the feather -



Monday 3 February 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

The corkscrew stair ...

I'm reading Golding's Spire -

I've walked past the school where he taught his wild boys -

I've see the five rivers running into the city -


Now, whenever I'm there, looking up, I'll see the spire falling -

Devils will run with me down Penny-farthing Street -


In my dreams, I'll climb the corkscrew stair -

I'll hear the song the stones make -


I'll hammer in a nail from Christ's cross -

A six-winged angel will comfort me -



Saturday 2 February 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset  

Lichen on the bare tree ...

I was moving the logs -

Sullen pine, wet from the rain -


I saw the toad -

Visible now to the world -


An ancient shape under the twilight sky -

No birds were singing -


There were snowdrops in the churchyard -

Lichen on the bare tree -



Saturday 1 February 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset