Each song reached out to her ...

We wore colourful clothes in the silent garden -

There was a meadow of blue flowers upon my shirt - 

We heard music in the house of parting - 

We saw her face - 

Each song reached out to her -

Cars whispered under the forgiving sky - 

February 12 2022

Dark Trees ...

These were dark trees - 

The path led to the church hidden by coils of ivy and bramble -

I crossed a deep ditch by a narrow bridge - 

There was always silence here -

9 February 2022

East Stoke 

Dorset

A new planet ...

A new planet draws near -

The sky will change - 

New music will fill the room - 

8 February 2022

Salisbury 

Reading Hawksmoor ...

I'm reading Hawksmoor -

A quill  scratches -

Dark geometry draws back the mildewed curtain -

I see the hidden world - 

2 February 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

I was born for this ...

The auditorium is a Lynchian red - 

Soon I'll be watching Nightmare Alley -

A haunted grifter will hide from The Furies amongst carnies -

The Furies will rend him in a marble tower -

A beautiful woman with a red mouth will betray him - 

The grifter will become a creature with matted hair, writhing in a cage -

I'll remember his words -

I was born for this -

7 February 2022

The Rex

Wareham 

Soft wings brushed against my face ...

We climbed the hill to the chapel above the sea -

The small town below was a nest of golden stone -

Inside the chapel, I felt the nearness of pilgrims -

I could not see them -

Yet their prayers were like gentle birds -

Soft wings brushed against my face -

30 January 2022

St Catherine's Chapel

Abbotsbury 

Reading John Masters ...

I'm reading Coramandel! -

John Masters looks like a cool crook in a Poirot -

Turning the yellowy pages I'm in India again - 

I can feel the white sand beneath my bare feet - 

I see the bright boats strewn with nets -

I hear the drumming in the temple -

The worshippers move their hands through the flame - 

The doors of the shrine open to show the god - 

5 February 2022

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

At The Green Yard Cafe ...

I gazed at the elephant in The Green Yard Cafe -

We were eating coffee cake - 

Two fishermen finished their heroic breakfasts -

I saw some optics above the artisan scones -

Neill told me unsettling stories about the quiet villages -

A gaffer came in wearing mustard coloured trousers - 

The trousers were like huge crumpled bags - 

What do you want to drink doctor asked the man behind the counter - 

I felt anew the charm of this louche quirky town - 

2 February 2022

The Green Yard Cafe

Bridport 

The letters of all my words ...

We played Scrabble in The Ilchester Arms -

Invisible labradors brushed against us -

Logs smouldered -

There were barrels of dark ale - 

Knotted beams held up the low ceiling - 

A narrow stair led upwards to a labyrinth of rooms -

This was an in for antiquarians - 

There were crowns hidden in the chalk - 

Inside the chapel on the hill were offerings of shells - 

And laid out her words - 

I felt the letters of all my words fall like rain - 

30 January 2022

The Ilchester Arms 

Abbotsbury

Time to read The Wonder Book of Daring Deeds ...

I was tempted by a sizzling Creasey in Bridport Old Books -

A blonde swooned in a gunshoe's arms -

Nearby, Bulldog Drummond was at bay -

An icy wind blew through a shattered window -

On another shelf, a terrified girl had been framed for a perfect murder - 

She was waiting for The Chair -

A man with blue eyes fired a service revolver -

It was time to read The Wonder Book of Daring Deeds -

1 February 2022

Bridport Old Books 

Bridport

It all comes back ...

I'm reading The Death of Ivan Ilyich -

I remember how the world I walked in changed -

The brightness fell away -

I remember the moment it began -

The novella is like icy water -

It all comes back - 

31 January 2022

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Another name ...

Once I'd played wild darts -

This dart board reminded me our tipsy games -

My darts had often missed the board -

Sometimes I could hardly see - 

I had been given a different skin - 

I had another name - 

30 January 2022

The Ilchester Arms 

Abbotsbury

I heard her laugh and call my name ...

I remembered the stony beach -

I'd walked past tarnished villas - 

Jukeboxes had waited for the night - 

I remembered my smoky Scheherazade -

I breathed again the air of our gaudy nights -

I heard her laugh and call my name - 

29 January 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The Song Their Hearts Made ...

I saw the riders far off at first - 

They cantered over the ribbed sand -

The still sea glistened -

A mist silvered the high hill - 

The riders went by - 

They marked the sand with their passing - 

I saw the bright flesh of the horses -

I heard the song their hearts made -

28 January 2022

Bramble Bay

Studland 

Dorset 

Listening to J Bizz ...

I listened to.J Bizz whilst scissors danced through my hair -

My jacket waited for me - 

The mirror held every memory of my face - 

27 January 2022

Bonds Barber Shop

Wareham 

Dorset 

Becoming air ...

The wind is sweeping away those I walked with - 

I remember a path above the sea - 

The rain swept in across the land - 

Drystone walls enclosed ancient fields - 

Saints had walked that path - 

Even then we felt ourselves becoming air - 

26 January 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Names like these ...

I'm watching Toast of Tinseltown -

Ben Egyptian -

Russ Nightlife -

Weech Beacon -

Wild cat Lil -

I shall laugh when I stand before apparatchiks -

I shall change their names into names like these - 

25 January 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Walking under bare trees ...

The walls of the world are thin for me these two months -

February - 

March - 

I feel myself become made of air - 

I walk under bare trees - 

I wait for the wind from outside - 

23 January 2022

Warblington 

Hampshire 

At The Blue Bird Cafe ...

I followed dog walkers to The Blue Bird Cafe -

Surly pugs glowered - 

A seagull gang ruled the beach -

Brawny girls served heroic breakfasts - 

21 January 2022

Blue Bird Cafe

Ferring Beach

Ferring

West Sussx

A path to the edge of the world ...

Anne, Jane and Bentley walked on the beach -

The sun was setting -

No words came to describe the light -

My eyes filled with tears -

Those who had left me were now close -

The ribbed sand was a path to the edge of the world - 

20 January 2022

Ferring

West Sussex

Remembering Seville ...

.

Varnsey poured out dangerous bumpers -

Bottles gleamed - 

Earlier, we'd eaten tapas -

I'd sipped fino in an exquisite glass - 

Anne wore a blue dress - 

I'd remembered Seville - 

I smelled orange blossoms - 

I heard the sunlit music of fountains - 

21 January 2022

Ferring

West Sussex 

I picked oranges from amongst dark leaves ...

Jane's preserves hoarded summer - 

She remembered the village women - 

They'd gathered the fruits of their green gardens - 

Olives had ripened upon the gnarled trees - 

I reached for the wine - 

I still heard the call to prayer - 

I picked oranges from amongst dark leaves -

21 January 2022

Ferring

West Sussex