I heard laughter in the Close -
School boys from the school where Golding taught -
They stood before the house with yellow windows -
Their laughter heard in the quiet rooms -
Any moment they might surely dance -
Thin shadows casting off their clothes -
Friday 28 November 2020
Cathedral Close
Salisbury
Llewellyn Powys lived here for a while, Neill said -
I looked at row of coastguard cottages -
Windshaken and facing the sea -
The smugglers path a zig zag of vertigo -
I pictured the gentle mage, standing before an attic window -
Not yet putting on his green coat -
But it hanging nearby in the echoing room -
.
Thursday 26 November 2020
Whitenothe
Ringstead
Dorset
The fingerpost was a like a leafless tree -
Penelope and I sat near it, tiny birds at our feet -
I remembered the warm ocean and bright flowers at the end of the world -
Here, on the November beach -
The pale sky above these wonderful names on the branches of the tree -
I remembered the beautiful wounded land -
The stars I could reach out and touch, just above my head -
Lifting up my hand to hold them between my fingers -
Wednesday 25 November 2020
Middle Beach
Studland
Dorset
It was time for coffee and Beryl Bainbridge -
Each sip like one of her wasp sting sentences -
Whilst I drink one bitter cup, Bunny burns a desperate letter -
O'Hara says George, salt of the earth -
Dawn sobs in her dressing room -
Stella nips out for cigarettes -
She's strange and sexy in her munitions girl's
overalls -
I know the words she says -
But usually nobody likes the sound of them -
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Tuesday 24 November 2020
.
I'm listening to The Lovecraft Investigations -
The Whisperer in Darkness -
It's like being in a disquieting maze -
No thread to hold -
Hearing words spoken in the language of angels- -
Each turning taking you deeper -
Further and further from the light -
Monday 23 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm reading The Green Child -
It's like being in a dream -
Walking with those green children -
The November garden becoming strange and beautiful -
The anarchist poet weaving his story -
The green girl's body like a slender reed -
The river running backwards -
The surface of the world hiding wonders -
Sunday 22 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
We walked past the birch trees, towards the reedy shore -
In summer, dragonflies lorded it here -
We found thevoebbke near a pool like a dark window -
I saw the curling waves of a pale blue sea painted upon the stone -
Three birds flying above the sea -
A yellow sun in the stone's sky -
Its bright rays painted like petals of a flower -
Saturday 21 November 2020
Arne
Dorset
Dinosaurs will now roam our kitchen -
Gentle long necked saurians will greet us whilst we fill the kettle -
Wallace will cast his eye over our motley herd -
He'll remember some awesome scenario -
He'll hold up a bold triceratops -
This one will protect the baby long neck he'll say -
The daddy dinosaur was washed away -
Friday 20 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
From Daggers Gate we walked towards the sea -
Gorse and blackthorn hid the smugglers path -
All was bathed in light -
Each wave, each blade of salt rimed grass -
Touched by heaven -
Friday 20 November 2020
The Warren
Durdle Door
Dorset
The rain stung our faces on the high hill -
We'd followed the white path upwards -
The wind blew winter into our bones -
Wednesday 18 November 2020
Challow Hill
Corfe
Dorset
I think of the stories Mr Sooty told us -
The jackdaw's hoard -
The trapped owls -
The witches bottles -
The glimpses of yellow feathers -
Then of Tom, and Mister Grimes -
The hellish roofscape of smoking chimneys -
Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby -
Mrs Bedonebyasyoudid -
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Tuesday 17 November 2029
I'm reading In Patagonia -
It brings back a memory of apple orchards -
Anne wearing a green dress -
The Oast House -
The small church on the hill -
The bright grass we lay on -
Monday November 16 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Walking through the dunes, I remembered the story about three lost crowns -
Grey waves broke upon the shore -
A cold wind blew through the marram grass -
There were dark clouds in the sky -
Mounds of sand and thin soil hiding flint and bone -
Any moment I might see a thin shape cross the path -
I remembered the name of the story -
A Warning To The Curious -
The icy guile of the man who wrote it -
How I'd put the book down, and looked round the room for shadows -
Sunday 15 November 2020
Middle Beach
Studland
Dorset
I've just read The Outsider -
I was taken by the photograph I saw of Camus -
Cigarette in his tight mouth, like a tec in a LA noir -
I remember Annick -
I think of the question she should have asked me -
Christophe, is the sun in your eyes ? -
Saturday 14 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm watching a programme about UFOs on Blaze -
There's a craggy jawed sky watcher -
I'm watching him now -
There are weird lights above Gulf Breeze -
Glimpses of redacted USAF documents -
Bearded chins of shark fishermen -
A green glow lighting up the sea -
This is just the tip of the iceberg the sky watcher says -
Friday 13 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Whilst we walked, the darkness thickened -
Alders cast their last twisted shadows -
Stags roared monstrously in the tangled wood -
I pictured men baying in a wild dance -
Some with antlers growing fast from their spellbound heads
Tongues too large for their gaping mouths -
Their bodies painted -
Hearts pounding in their glistening chests -
Roaring with the stags -
Leaping over smoking fires -
Lords of the Wildwood -
Their blood given to the trees -
Thursday 12 November 2020
Highwood
Dorset
Leaves fell on the summer shore -
We'd sunbathed here, under these shapely trees -
Lay on the warm sand, not feeling the touch of invisible golden leaves -
Our skin still salty, our clothes still cast to one side -
Not seeing or feeling the leaves -
Falling one by one from a flawless sky -
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Shipstal Point
Arne
Dorset
The autumn leaves reminded Anne of Bloomsbury squares -
The pale statues under golden trees -
The stilled fountains -
The scholars nearby, in dimly lit libraries -
The museum filling with darkness -
I remembered my younger self -
Walking across Russell Square -
The windows opened to the night -
The feeling of wonderful loneliness -
I wore a leather jacket -
I carried my heart like a bright star in my pocket -
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Arne
Dorset
I gazed at the clouds above the dove grey sea -
Two boys were swimming in the still bay -
An end times sky touched Ballard Down -
Tuesday 10 November 2020
Swanage
Dorset
We walked past The Masala -
I remembered the election night dhal -
The fiery chutney -
The chilled Cobra -
The gentle waiters' smiles -
We shared stories of brave door knocking in Brexit streets -
Staffies straining in narrow hallways -
Waiting for the cruel radio -
Our hearts racing as the moments passed -
Tuesday 10 November 2020
The Masala
Swanage
Dorset
They left these quiet fields -
They left the memory of their young beauty in the water meadows -
I can read their names -
Walter Cobb -
Richard Cobb -
Ralph Twisden Butler -
Amar Somerset Twisden -
Twelve other names -
They'd walked where I walk -
Their shadows touch mine -
They watch the minnows in the shallows of the river -
Buttercups are wreathed around their bones -
Monday 9 November 2020
East Stoke
Dorset
Black Pug Books was closed -
I'd be unable to buy a foxed Sax Rohmer -
I looked through the window -
I saw the sleeping Everymans, the jolly Angela Brazils -
I'd miss browsing here this morning -
Finding, perhaps, a faded Hemingway -
Soft rain fell on the quiet town -
No pensioner waited for Bridget's chair -
There were remembrance poppies in the Minster -
I adjusted my scarf -
It was almost noon -
Monday 9 November 2020
Wimborne
Dorset
A yakuza chain smokes in a pristine loft -
He wears sunglasses -
He smiles his strange mysterious smile -
A tattoo covers his back -
Dragons open their wings on his smooth skin -
He sits motionless -
His thoughts are impossible to fathom -
He meets his death with a terrible calm -
Sunday 8 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
We saw two paddle boarders -
Slim, dark, figures -
Finely made, lean limbed -
The white sky above their heads -
It was as though we stood inside a myth -
A young god and a nymph -
There, held by the river -
Reflected in the water -
Sunday 8 November 2020
Town Quay
Wareham
Dorset
We saw two peacocks in Bowling Green Wood -
They wore their stylish coats with the sprezzatura of hot blooded bravi -
A keeper fired a gun -
Rooks flew skywards from a splintered tree -
In the silence I heard my heartbeat -
Soft rain was promised by the sky -
Saturday 31 October 2020
Bowling Green Wood
Lulworth
Dorset
We saw the ships again -
Half visible, as though imagined -
Cruise liners becoming ghosts -
Saturday 7 November 2020
Studland Bay
Old Harry
Dorset
The logs wait for the fire -
I pick up fallen branches in the wood -
I pass by old hedgerows, shorn for the winter -
Rooks call to each other in the November sky -
I remember bright mornings in the garden -
I'd wear my summer shirt -
Salt still in my hair -
My years a golden scarf -
Friday 6 September 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm listening to Lenny Cohen -
He's singing here it is -
His voice fills the sunlit room -
A smoky angel's voice -
And here is the dawn he sings -
And here is your death -
Friday 6 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I saw our footprints in the grass -
Marked by dew and raindrops -
We'd walked through the shining wood -
We were bathed in light -
Filled with a fragile grace -
Friday 6 November 2020
Bowling Green Wood
Lulworth
Dorset
Murphy looked at the ford -
He'd run through the autumnal wood -
Leapt over deep ditches -
Brushed against hawthorn -
He smelt the shining air -
He turned away from the water -
Too cold, too deep -
Too soon -
Wednesday 4 November 2020
Moreton
Dorset
The carp were sly glistening shapes -
They watched us from their underwater world -
I imagined the touch of their gaping whiskery mouths against my skin -
I saw myself reflected in their bulging glassy eyes -
I lived again some primeval memory -
Swimming lean limbed in some lagoon -
A burning sun above giant ferns -
Tuesday 3 November 2020
West Holme
Frowning his responsible frown -
Every word, so carefully measured -
So forensic -
The realistic comrade -
If you lived in an alternative universe -
A speech full of florid arguments -
The wagging head -
The frown -
The judgement -
I can't support the resolution -
Monday 2 November 2020
Brightness falls from the air -
I read the poem again -
Summer a world away -
The edge of the world outside every house -
Monday 1 November 2020
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
