Beguiled in the library

I was beguiled by letters to Sylvanus Urban - 

The courtly sentences, the engravings of pious divines - 

The mannered voices I heard as I turned those fragile pages - 

The Library

Dorset Museum 

Dorchester 

October 2023 

A delicate glass

I sipped coffee from a delicate glass -

Savoured its subtle pleasures - 

Listened to a gentle radio -

Watched a barista stroke his beard - 

We'd walked down Killigrew Street - 

Past louche doorways, a shop selling ragged finery - 

I thought of Richard in Vientiane -

Gazed at the image of The Virgin of Guadalupe - 

Expressini Artisan Cafe

Falmouth 

September 2023

Young voices like birdsong

He placed his hand on his heart -

Murder cars still hunting those he loved - 

He remembered the city surrounded by mountains - 

His former life - 

There were ancient names - 

Young voices like birdsong - 

Weymouth 

October 2023

The Solarium

Well heeled pensioners sipped tea in the solarium -

I heard their gentle voices - 

They smoothed the pages of The Daily Telegraph - 

Breathed in air scented by tropic greenery -

I imagined some Ballardian happening -

Iguanas on the velvet lawn - 

A liana draped steam launch coming up the river - 

A captain haunted by a dream - 

Trellisick 

September 2023

The stone warmed by love

I breath air here filled with memory - 

This gentle light - 

The saint called by my name -

My dear lost ones there in the silence -

The old trees touching heaven -

The stone warmed by love - 

Whitcombe Church

Dorset 

September 2023

It's not where you're from, it's what you bring

In the dark, my eyes filled with tears -

I felt the sadness of forgotten towns - 

I saw pinched streets - 

I heard the voices of those who had been betrayed - 

I saw a tree rise up from the colourless earth - 

Bright with green, its branches blazing hope - 

October 2023

Walking down from the Castle

Small houses dreamed in northern sunlight -

The narrow lanes led downwards towards the harbour - 

I could smell the sea - 

From the castle, I could look over a tangle of salty rooftops -

Glimpse attic windows - 

See clouds in the October sky - 

There were stories here - 

Names, histories -

Hearts to hold in my hand - 

Old Town

Scarborough 

October 2023

Christophe, tais toi

Cypress trees cast their shade where Jane walks -  

She sleeps under bright stars - 

Not far from Beziers -

A ghost with hennaed hair calls me by my name - 

Christophe -

I see her bracelet, feel her breath - 

Beziers, the name waking her - 

Where her parents had their house - 

This ghost who had taken me into her world - 

I was one of her boys - 

She blew her smoke into my mouth -

Told me stories - 

Pale lovers -

The sting of desire -

My midnight Scheherazade, telling me again Christophe, tais toi - 

October 2023

Hunting foxed Arrows

I hunted foxed Arrows in The Vaults - 

The Eunuch of Stamboul -

Uncharted Seas - 

I passed by dimly lit alcoves -

Cobwebbed marvels -

Hunched figures - 

I wore my tweed - 

I turned thin yellowed pages - 

Gazed at lurid covers - 

The Daimler's engine purred I read - 

Kadzim's eyes were tiny beads -

A louche hero smoked a cigarette -

The Vaults

Scarborough 

October 2023

Boy racers

The boy racers revved their nervy motors - 

Flying past us -

Each one an Icarus - 

His lean lycra'd body perfumed with diesel - 

Kings for an hour - 

Never growing old - 

Gallows Hill

Near Clouds Hill

Dorset

October 2023

The light falling on South Cliff

High windows faced the sea -

I walked in the bright morning -

I saw the marvellous blueness of the sky -

The light falling on South Cliff - 

The reef of memory along the esplanade - 

South Cliff 

Scarborough 

October 2923

Those benches

Those benches, with their flowers and tender messages - 

The gentle gardeners with their trowels -

The view mum loved - 

South Cliff

Scarborough 

October 2023

Dancing in The Red, White and Blue

Standing by the juke box -

Bruce Springsteen singing this gun's for hire - 

Words tangled in Maggie's hair - 

Richard dreaming of cinnamon girls - 

Gareth dancing - 

All of us dancing - 

Although we didn't know we were dancing - 

Whisky later in the kitchen - 

A wonderful poem read at midnight - 

October 2023

On reading Richard's Guernica

Richard, I want to ask you about those words -

Where did you find them?

I need to walk to the place where you found your poem -

Perhaps then I will fully understand what you saw -

There are meanings there -

A moment when writing the poem, you were more than Richard - 

I  am haunted by what you wrote - 

Those last lines most of all - 

The landfall of my last breath -

Infinite nows -

This poem is your elegy - 

The angels will have heard it - 

October 2023

The truth of his young bones

When Wallace plays football, he's a spirit of the air - 

He runs as fast as a young deer - 

As graceful, too - 

I am in awe of his beautiful fragility - 

The truth of his young bones - 

Scarborough 

October 2023

Anne Bronte climbs Church Stairs

She had known these steps -

The narrow street from the old town - 

The sea wind plucking at her hair - 

Church Stairs

Scarborough 

October 2023

An end times sky

Walking on the chill sand - 

As if between worlds - 

An end times sky above The Grand Hotel -

South Bay

Scarborough 

October 2023

A half drawn breath

He gazed at sea from his turret room -

The long waves breaking upon the pristine sand - 

The broken castle on the hill - 

The tangle of salty streets above the harbour - 

His khaki coat thrown over a chair -

An unfinished poem like a half drawn breath - 

Clifton Hotel

North Bay

Scarborough 

October 2023

A portrait of Edith Sitwell

Those pale grey blue eyes - 

That ancient gaze -

Cupping her face in her hands -

Aware of her strange beauty -

She looks out from a golden frame -

Woodend

Scarborough 

October 2023

The beautiful mystery

I saw beguiling angels -

Heard their golden music - 

Breathed air scented with incense - 

Felt the allure of the beautiful mystery - 

St Martin on the Hill

South Cliff

Scarborough 

October 2023

South Bay

A greyhound raced over the sand -  

A boomerang of slender bone - 

Above the lighthouse a dove blue sky - 

South Bay

Scarborough 

October 2023

The poet would walk here

I heard once again the music of that poignant summer - 

Invisible bandsmen played their instruments -

Gloved hands held parasols - 

The poet would walk here - 

Gaze at the young god above the fountain - 

Scorn the men with hard eyes in the white hotels -

The Italian Gardens 

Scarborough 

October 2023

The fate of The Cherries

The bright crowd roared on Match of The Day -

Wallace watched from the blue sofa - 

The high ceilinged room filled with grief at the fate of The Cherries - 

Number 53 Royal Avenue

Scarborough 

October 2023

M & S window

I remembered this window -

The taste of the M & S croissant -

Those long Sundays - 

The armchair in the lounge - 

Havant M & S 

September 2023

Gérard Depardieu plays Maigret

The girl from the river had haunted him -

Now he's marked by many wounds - 

Wears his sadness as he does his coat - 

A long coat, hiding his heart - 

The Rex

Wareham

October 2023

Looking out for dragonflies with jewelled wings

I looked out for dragonflies with jewelled wings -

Strange creatures from dreams amongst the primeval greenery - 

Waited for warm rain to fall on this secret fevered world - 

Hidden Gardens of Heligan 

September 2023

Clouds from another world

We were silent under the enormous sky - 

The sea almost beyond sight -

A glimmer of blue -

Clouds from another world casting shadows on the sand - 

Holkham Beach 

Norfolk 

July 2023

Ghosts swimming at Break Neck Beach

We climbed barefoot - 

There was salt in our hair - 

Below us, waves broke upon rocks and sand -

Anne had swum here with her sisters -

Their young ghosts had swum with us today -

I'd heard their voices - 

My heart still raced - 

They knew these names - 

Portscatho - 

St Mawes, St Anthony in Roseland - 

Portscatho 

September 2023