Glimpsing the flowers

Glimpsing the flowers you gave me - 

Below the shining branches of the apple tree -

Bright daisies on the lawn - 

The blossom still to fall - 

April 2024

Birdsong under the bright trees

Birdsong under the bright trees -

The scent of bluebells - 

Paths through sunlit greenery - 

Magnolia blossom -

 A glimpse of the Chapel on the hill -

Holding close the memory of this garden - 

To have it with me in the dark - 

Abbotsbury Sub Tropical Gardens 

April 2024

Squires

A shirt worth a pasha's ransom - 

Exquisite cuffs - 

Leaping fish in a dark blue sea -

Squires

Salisbury 

April 2024

The Museum Garden

I could see green hills from the museum garden -

Woods in new leaf -

Quiet fields under a gentle sky -

Each moment was precious -

My heart no longer ached -

I felt the love you sent me - 

You thinking of me in my dark hour -

Shaftesbury 

April 2024

Through the crossing

Suddenly I'm through the crossing -

Halfway between two worlds -

Watching myself become smoke - 

April 2024

Time tangled in my hair

I remember another birthday -

Los Tainos playing their sad guitars -

Below us, Chevrolets growling in Habana Vieja - 

My name spoken by the singers -

Time tangled in my hair -

April 2024

A world without a name

Next to the villa a world without a name - 

Father's becoming monsters - 

Screaming heard in the bright garden - 

A fur coat from Canada -

A briefcase filled with terrible numbers -

The Rex

Wareham 

April 2024

That moment

That moment - 

That light from the sky - 

Your smile - 

April 2024

North Swanage Conservative Voter

A villa above the sea -

Pristine lawns - 

A flawless BMW - 

Swanage 

April 2024

Sad hauntings

Reading The Winter Ghosts -

Listening to Erik Satie -

Sad hauntings -

April 2024

Forgetting for a while

I'm watching The Avengers -

Emma Peel smiles her wonderful smile -

I'll forget for while the stories which will my blood will tell -

April 2024

Lost names

Nine Barrows Down -

Glimpsed from the edge lands of the seaside town -

White bones in the high hill - 

Lost names under the grass - 

Swanage 

April 2024

Dreams of apples

Blossom on the tree - 

Dreams of apples - 

Of you holding me close one April evening - 

Dorset 

April 2024

Delicate awakenings

New leaves on the poplar trees -

Delicate awakenings - 

Dove blue sky -

April 2024

Wareham 

Dorset

Ripley

Watching Ripley on Netflix - 

Those midnight stairs - 

That edgy, dangerous, smile - 

April 2024

Joy comes down from heaven

Jake is wearing sunglasses - 

Tess her dazzling smile - 

Joy comes down from heaven - 

Salisbury

April 2024

Prester John above the bay

I'm reading John Buchan's Prester John in The Grand Hotel - 

A ripping yarn above the bay -

A foxed orange Penguin - 

Each fragile page a rummer of derring do - 

Grand Hotel 

Swanage 

April 2024

In Billy Winters

 

Jack Johnson singing - 

Kite surfers chasing the salty wind - 

Waiting for monk fish tacos - 

Wearing a shirt the colour of the sky - 

Billy Winters

Portland 

April 2024

Border crossing

In the Waiting Room there is a border crossing - 

Our names are called out - 

We walk down the corridor to another country -

April 2024

For a while forgetting

For a while forgetting -

Walking on bright grass - 

Sunlight on the water - 

The wonder of the trees -

Dorset

April 2024

Alice singing

Alice singing -

Filling our hearts with light -

No darkness anywhere - 

Dorset

April 2024

Martyr

I've just put down Martyr -

Intelligencers -

Mad Richard Topcliffe - 

Priests caught in terrible nets - 

Splendid blood soaked Elizabethan noir -

April 2024

Once more

Once more -

Becoming smoke -

Drifting to the edge of the world -

April 2024

Perfect Days

I've just seen Perfect Days -

I shall gaze at my world with Hirayama's smile -

Carry his sadness and wisdom in my heart - 

April 2024

Minterne

I walked past the house -

Below it, avenues of blossom -

Clear water -

Reflections of clouds - 

Torn prayer flags - 

Awakening trees -

Minterne House 

Dorset

April 2024

No longer lost

The bright water carried my prayer - 

I tied my token to the branch of a slender tree - 

No longer lost, my dear ones close to me -

Saint Augustine's Well 

Cerne Abbas

April 2024 

Calling me her lamb

I saw the tower, lapped by the yellow rape -

The tall pines -

The Easter sky -

The memory I was born on Good Friday -

Hearing a sweet voice calling me her lamb - 

East Stoke

Easter 2024

A dream left inside my head

The heron came for the anguished boy - 

Lured him away to beautiful strangeness -

 

There were murderous pelicans -

A tower with doors opening to different worlds - 

A wild sea -

A granduncle with ancient eyes - 

A girl wreathed in flame - 

A stepmother on a snowy bed -

A final parting - 

A dream left inside my head - 

The Rex

Wareham 

A whiskey voice

Next to the hourglass was a globe - 

On our table, a black notebook - 

Pages of wild drawings -

From the radio, a whiskey voice - 

The Crooked Book

Boscombe 

March 2024

Neill knew this world

Neill remembered the bedsits -

The narrow stairs - 

The dim light bulbs - 

We sat in Boscanova - 

The chill rain fell on the louche street -

Neill knew this world -

Boscanova 

Boscombe 

March 2024

Seeking my reflection

Reading The Mist in the Mirror -

Walking in my dream London -

The narrow alleys between moonlit churches -

The dark river -

The white moon above a marble facade -

The labyrinth under the pavements - 

Then seeking my reflection -

Seeing a face that is not my own - 

March 2024

The gentle voice of Mr Richie

The narrow creeks of books -

The poignant cutlery from a steam packet's salon -

The gentle voice of Mr Richie - 

How many books? - 

Oh, thousands -

Books Afloat

Weymouth 

March 2024

The pale English sea

The blue eyed El Aurens -

Astride his Brough Superior - 

HIs gaze raking the dark hall -

Beyond the hotel steps, the pale English sea - 

Weymouth

March 2024

Marking all my hours

The turning year -

Waking the garden - 

The sundial marking all my hours - 

The Walled Garden 

Moreton 

March 2024