The steep stair ...

The steep stair would take me to the harbour -

Bright sunlight fell on old walls -  

Gulls cast fleeting shadows - 

Above the rooftops I saw a distant shore -

13 July 2022

The Old Town

Scarborough 

In The Vaults ...

There were foxed pulps in The Vaults -

I could smell their ardent pages -

I could glimpse hoodlums on their creased covers -

I picked up a steaming Edgar Rice Rice Burroughs -

A winged man carried a slave girl over a wild sea -

Along the passageway was a box of mute vinyl -

Gospel songs waited to be heard - 

The Sunshine Boys smoothed down their hair -

July 2022

The Vaults 

Scarborough 

Invisible creatives ...

I lingered in these pristine spaces -

Zines caught my eye -

I felt the presence of invisible creatives -

I heard their soft voices -

I felt their shapes brush against me - 

Their dreams were like bright birds -

There were feathers in my hair - 

Woodend

Scarborough 

13 July 2022

The red sofa ...

I bought three bottles of golden ale -

In the Millkeeper's Lodge I filled my glass -

The red sofa was made for the telling of stories -

The swift river carried our laughter to the sea - 

15 July 2022

The Millkeeper's Lodge 

Spindlestone 

Bamburgh 

Becoming lost ...

I had been here before, above the pale sea and ribbed sand -

I would become lost once more on the winding stair - 

I would seek out a hidden garden - 

Here, memory touched the northern shore -

15 July 2022

Robin Hoods Bay 

Bill Haley waited with his Comets ...

Each room was like a surreal film set - 

There was a snarling mountain lion - 

African masks promised Ju Ju - 

Bill Haley waited with his Comets - 

A senorita smouldered -

Christopher Lee bared his fangs - 

20 July 2022

Alnwick

I picked up a feather ...

I picked up a feather from the windblown sand - 

I heard the voices of the waves - 

There were delicate worlds in rock pools - 

I saw Lindisfarne where sea touched sky -

21 July 2022

Budle Bay 

Dunstanburgh

Winds blew through broken walls -

Salt rimed the stone -

I saw ancient names written in the sky and cloud -

19 July 2022

Dunstanburgh 

Hearts were broken ...

Hearts were broken in this room of curving stone - 

A woman with half closed eyes played a cello - 

Seals sang laments on the stony shore - 

18 July 2022

Lindisfarne Castle 

Cragside ...

A louche prince once lounged in this opulent gallery -

His elfin waisted wife wore diamonds on her brow - 

There were Turners -

Swallow tailed servants moved noiselessly - 

Miles away, on the river, smoke rose from cruel chimneys - 

Guns were forged -

Ironclads were launched on the rising tide - 

17 July 2022

Cragside 

Soft rain fell from the white sky ...

The tide was out at Robin Hoods Bay - 

Small waves broke on ribbed sand -

Soft rain fell from the white sky -

15 July 2022

Robin Hoods Bay

Yorkshire 

Bamburgh beach ...

We followed a mazy path through the high dunes - 

Behind us, the castle faced the sea road to Lindisfarne -

Wind swept over the marram grass - 

I walked barefoot on the fine sand - 

There were feathers of cloud in the pale blue sky - 

16 July 2022

Bamburgh 

Sculpting the pasha's beard ...

The young barber had learned his craft in Damascus before the war -

The clippers purred in his slim hand -

I'd lolled on a sofa, watching him sculpt a pasha's beard - 

He said something in Arabic when he put down the razor - 

Now his scissors whispered over my head - 

I gazed in the mirror whilst he cut my hair -

I heard the music of an oud -

Each note was like light from a distant star -

14 July 2022

Classic Barber

Ramshill

Scarborough 

A few pages of a Murakami ...

I read a few pages of a Marakami in The Lookout On The Pier - 

Each page was like listening to midnight jazz -

I'd walked through The Old Town -

I'd seen delicate scrimshaw -

A narrow stair led down to the sea - 

There were seagulls flying over tangled rooftops -

Delicate clouds in a northern sky -

13 July 2022

Scarborough 

Here be dragons ...

We shared stories under motorway skies -

Cherry laughed - 

Look she said -

That sign -

The North -

I remembered my brother -

Here be dragons he'd said -

The Peugeot breathed the frantic air of the fast lane -

I thought of my brother listening to Duke Ellington -

I remembered the garden in Palmyra Road -

12 July 2022

A1(M)

The blueness of his eyes ...

Jake turns to look at me -

Young apples are amongst the leaves above our heads -

I am lost in the blueness of his eyes - 

I sit here, my thoughts washed away by his gaze -

11 July 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A dazzle of yellow flowers ...

We glimpsed the warm blueness of the sea - 

A yacht with a white sail caught the fitful wind - 

Summer greenery shaded our path -

Earlier, I'd seen a dazzle of yellow flowers - 

I turned to seek your smile - 

10 July 2022

Durlston 

The shape of her smile ...

I had no words - 

All I had was the gift of my sorrow - 

I wanted to sit with you in your house - 

Our hearts would have touched in the silence -

There would have been shade in the garden -

We would have remembered the shape of her smile -

8 July 2022

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset

Who made you ? ...

I've just read A Burnt Out Case -

The river carried me through an unmapped land - 

There were no paths between the trees - 

I tasted the ashes of my heart -

I remember the question ask of me - 

Who made you? -

8 July 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset

We used to sail the oceans ...

Wallace holds a small guitar - 

His hotwheels gleam in the Scarborough sunlight -

I wonder if he still looks out for red sails - 

We used the sail the oceans -

My hook shone - 

We counted pirate gold - 

9 July 2022

Breathing the air of a new world ...

I sit under the apple tree -

I can hear birdsong -

My grandson is sleeping inside the house -

Whenever I see him, I breath the air of a new world -

9 July 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset