We walked across the ribbed sand -
Later a full moon would draw back the tide -
I saw the shadow of each rib of sand -
Above us, the blueness of an ancient sky -
The air was filled with strangeness -
My name and face unknown to me -
Friday 26 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The cool telly doctor tells us about mutations -
Transmission -
Anti-bodies -
Immunity -
I see the artful stubble on his chin -
That intense gaze -
There's the sound of a nervy violin -
Thursday 25 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm thinking about Kafka -
The world becoming strange -
Lies being spoken about me -
Not knowing anything -
Remembering, too, the drawing room in the Surgeon Commander's house -
The daughter's long elegant body -
The bottles in the kitchen -
The phone ringing, never answered -
February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I remember a dream of being Ransom -
These yellowy pages bring back the dream -
Days when magic walked, waiting for me at the gate -
New worlds were bright birds flying around my head -
February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The apparatchiks now wrap themselves in Union Jacks -
Their talking heads float in the air of their drawing rooms -
Telling our proud island story -
Later, they climb, each one, into a chauffeured Jaguar -
Driven swiftly through the spellbound cities -
Past small houses -
Their faces hidden by darkened glass -
Saturday 20 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm reading Voyage to Venus -
I saw deep heaven as well as Palmyra Road -
The shelf in the bedroom where I kept my Pans -
I will dream once more of the newborn Planet -
The tempter wearing a robe of feathers -
The first garden under a golden sky -
I will hear my mum singing in the kitchen -
Hold the book to my face to smell its pages -
My dad will be reading The Portsmouth Evening News -
Friday 19 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Dismembered laptops were scattered upon the counter -
Strange devices caught my eye -
A sign read Advice only given to paying customers -
Thursday 18 February 2021
Wareham
Dorset
We stood once more outside Barrington -
The pale blue bungalow was hidden by privet and laurel -
I waited again for Poirot to call -
A case involving a missing will -
A cad in a Riley -
The scent of almonds -
February 2021
Glebelands
Studland
Dorset
The wind waited for us on Nine Barrows Down -
Birds sang in chill hedgerows -
Rain gave way to sunshine -
The calm sea touched the land -
We stood on a shining beach -
Magical light made new all I saw -
February 2021
South Beach
Studland
Dorset
Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd wore his pince-nez -
The wild towns were lost in the darkness -
Only the telling of stories could bring grace to these cruel places -
Pinched hearts would then open -
Memory could become green again -
Monday 15 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Soon I will light this fire of oak and hazel -
The room will be warmed by memories of green summers -
I will hear the voice of the wildwood -
I will look for names in the sky -
Sunday 14 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I've had my jab -
The gentle dowager smiled -
Which arm she asked -
I thought of Eyam and the names remembered there -
The stones scattered in the sunlit field -
Brightness still falling from the air -
Each day more names -
More than now could be remembered in a single field -
Saturday 13 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I remembered the garden by the sea -
Those wearing green coats -
They spoke to me from photographs -
Placed their hands in mine -
I smelled their air -
I breathed them in -
Friday 12 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The courtly academic spoke of horrors -
Young men burned alive -
A beautiful valley with its soil enriched by blood -
The Prince of Barbados wearing a crown made out of bones -
Wednesday 10 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
Sunlight falls on the icy river -
A chill dazzle where we swam one July afternoon -
Carried, sunburnt, by the careless water -
Later, idling amongst the reeds -
Watching dragonflies, with no need to know the time -
February 2021
Holmebridge
Dorset
I'm reading Love in the Time of the Cholera -
I imagine having an opulent name -
Sipping iced lemonade under an almond tree -
Watching iguanas -
February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I see the catkins -
They grace the awakening tree -
Caught in sunlight -
Dusted with summer -
Saturday 6 February 2021
Moreton
Dorset
The rain will stop -
I know this, yet I cannot believe it -
This flooded pasture will smell of summer -
Friday 5 February 2021
East Stoke
Dorset
Swans fly with creaking wings above my head -
I remember the gypsies trapping eels -
The glistening shapes in a wicker basket -
The dripping water -
The tiny opening and closing mouths -
The smoke from brutal cigarettes -
The wrists with living bracelets -
Thursday 4 February 2021
East Stoke
Dorset
We saw a man in worn corduroy here -
Smoke rising from an Autumn bonfire -
Ash fell where now there are primroses -
Wednesday 3 February 2021
Binnegar
Dorset
Waiting for Zoom -
Watching Poirot before I see the comrades -
Calmed by a glimpse of Astings -
Tuesday 2 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
There's a silver mountain, rising from darkness to darkness -
It gives nothing away -
There are no pine trees or crags or waterfalls -
Just its silence -
Its shape will be seen in dreams of the invisible world -
Monday 1 February 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
He knew trees -
Their slow heartbeat -
Their smell -
It was as though he came from a company of heroes -
Unbending, his bones still green -
A lover of ships and horses -
Sunday 31 January 2021
East Stoke
Dorset
