A breath ...

First snowdrops in the churchyard -

Daffodils will follow -

The pine trees will touch the sky -

Lichen will cover the stone -

A year will be a breath -

January 2023

740 ...

Waiting for the delving instruments -

A girl with an Amyl Nitrate mane -

The Kray Twins in a shop window -

Haunting music in The Crooked Book -

The Polish girl with her cheek bones smiles - 

She's reading The Vatican Cellars -

January 2023

Empire of Light ...

We saw The Empire of Light -

The grey rain falling on the forgotten town - 

Pale sea -

Sad velvet - 

Red curtains drawing back - 

A dark boy and a pale woman -

Two tone -

Wickedness in the air - 

My heart torn by their wounded love -

January 2023

I will read The Moonstone ...

I will read The Moonstone -

I've a yearning for mystery - 

For Dalbys in my glass -

Three Hindoos will follow me - 

There will be a jewel in my heart - 

January 2023

A dream filled pipe ...

I've just read The Meaning of the Night -

I've felt the breath of the cruel leviathan -

I've walked through its teeming ways -

I've smoked a dream filled pile in Bluegate Fields - 

My dark heart has been betrayed -

January 2023

Brightness in the rain ...

The sisters are beguiled by jigsaws -

They piece together a Miss Marple sky -

Pale light falls through the glass of the lantern roof -

Jane glances at her phone -

There are flowers arranged in the garden -

Brightness in the rain -

I still hear the voice of the singer -

The waves breaking upon the bar -

Ferring 

January 2023

Victrola music ...

I thought I heard Victrola music -

A sweet clarinet over the Zane Greys -

Mournful saxophones -

A chanteuse singing - 

Her perfume mingling with that of these yellowed pages - 

The stories of masked riders - 

Mysterious gunslingers - 

Her voice carried by a desert wind -

Sand stinging my eyes - 

Music from beyond the edge of the world -

The Crooked Book

January 2023

What if no words came ...

What if no words come -

If when I look up, I see an empty sky -

No birds in the tree -

No voices in the air - 

I'll remember a midnight kitchen -

The wine in the glass -

Your dangerous smile - 

The secrets you saw - 

January 2023

Another madeleine ...

The Peugeot's engine murmuring in the frosty air - 

The sharp fragrance of petrol -

Another madeleine -

My dad's first car -

A Vauxhall Viva - 

My dad putting on his driving gloves - 

The thrill of driving down Palmyra Road - 

January 2023

Time still left ...

Bright water covers the fields -

A blue sky carries memories of clouds -

There were days of rain -

Water dripping from trees -

I thought of Jehane -

That Judas, Godmar -

My dad, reading the words - 

The Haystack in the Floods -

Rain falling against the windows of the lounge - 

Time still left to hold his hand -

January 2023

The gansey ...

I'm wearing Ken's gansey -

Navy blue holding him close - 

His smile -

His courtesy -

If I close my eyes I can see the garden he never wanted to leave -

The moon above the orange trees - 

The bright stars -

The gentle shapes of fragrant pines - 

January  2023

Wearing sunglasses in the dark ...

I'm watching The Blues Brothers -

I'm dancing -

I'm shooting lights - 

I'm wearing sunglasses in the dark - 

I'm drinking beer from the bottle - 

I'm on a mission from God -

January 2023

The house near the sea ...

Selsey - 

The house near the sea - 

Trees in the garden -

Stairs to her bedroom -

Sunday afternoon - 

Her dark voice -

My heart racing - 

Her calm hands -

Selsey 

January 2023

Our lives are stories ...

I remembered this road to the wild sea -

It was night -

It was her birthday -

I remember the touch of her tawny skin - 

Our lives are stories -

I was her gift - 

The rain beat upon her window - 

My lips were bruised by kissing - 

Selsey

January 2023

Soft rain ...

The discrete chapel was half hidden by shining trees -

Soft rain was falling - 

The long car whispered past me - 

I heard the voices of the sea - 

More love I said to Jane -

More love -

Worthing 

January 2023

The blueness of his tatoos ...

Waiting for the scissors, I listened to The Smiths -

The chair was empty -

Morrisey sang take me out tonight -

I remember the dance of Lee's scissors -

His gentle voice - 

The blueness of his tatoos - 

Bonds

Wareham 

January 2023 

The rasping shore ...

I heard the sea - 

The wind tore at my hair - 

Kite surfers flew in violent zigzags across the bay - 

On the beach, the spray chilled my face - 

I gulped down lungfuls of salty dizzying air -

The waves fell upon the rasping shore - 

Chesil Beach, Portland 

January 2023

Summer Lightning in my glass ...

I followed the comrades into The Dolphin Hotel -

I sat in the low ceilinged bar, Summer Lightning in my glass -

An incendiary newspaper folded in my tweed -

Truth burning on my tongue -

Weymouth 

January 2023

Beguiled by freeview ...

I'm shamelessly watching early morning TV - 

Sipping coffee -

Beguiled by freeview -

January 2023