NIgel

Once he had been a falconer - 

Befriended princes of the air -

Received tribute from bees - 

Dreamed of noble galleons - 

Swanage 

January 2024

The high bedroom

The high bedroom above the rooftops -

Reading Nostromo on the sofa - 

Dreaming of summer in winter's bed - 

Scarborough 

January 2024

The joy of its blueness

After the long night, walking on the shore - 

Looking up at the sky above the ribbed sand - 

Lost in the joy of its blueness - 

South Bay

Scarborough 

January 2024

Those sad toys

I sipped my cappuccino in the pristine space -

Heard creatives murmuring - 

Gazed at the installation -

The hanging fabrics, like prayer flags - 

Those poignant annuals -

Those sad toys - 

Woodend

Scarborough 

January 2024

I saw her again

I saw her again -

Her pale flawless body - 

Her long tensed thighs - 

The indifference of her gaze - 

Scarborough 

January 27 2024

A dream of Scarborough

I saw the print in a tawdry window - 

This LNER dream of Scarborough -

The dazzling sea -

A woman like a taut bow diving - 

The elegant lido -

The slim girl in a backless dress - 

Her narrow waist -

Her lover's smile -

January 26 2024

Scarborough 

Waiting for Rishi

The surfer shook his tangled dreadlocks -

The sea knew the lean body under the blue fleece - 

His grey eyes shone - 

We're waiting for Rishi he said - 

25 January 2024

West Pier

Scarborough 

Finding Ragged Robyn

I knew these pages -

Their dark magic - 

I last met the Queen of Holderness when I was a boy - 

She still has the stone in her pocket -

My moment came in a summer's field -

Seven years or seventy another time will come -

Scarborough 

January 24 2024

Blessed with coin

The wind blew in from the sea -

Carried gulls over salty rooftops - 

Soft rain fell - 

High windows overlooked the bay - 

This narrow street where merchants lived -

Their tall houses blessed with coin - 

Scarborough 

Old Town

January 23 2024

Slender bones

Wallace aims his dart -

Barefoot and poised to throw - 

Slender bones - 

As though he was made of air -

Scarborough 

January 22 2024

The high house

I'm in the high house - 

Climbing the stairs - 

Seafret hiding the rooftops - 

Gulls counting the tides

Scarborough 

January 21 2024

I heard his voice

I heard his voice -

There was ash on my tongue -

Winter lived in my bones -

January 20 2024

Astonishing light

Walking to the hide - 

Bright trees -

Astonishing light - 

January 19 2024

Arne

Dorset 

Chasing joy

Cowardines was almost empty - 

Pale January sunlight fell on Saint Thomas's Square -

Jake wore his dinosaur trousers -

He ran towards me - 

His arms outstretched -

Chasing joy - 

January 18 2024

Salisbury 

Haunted by his own gaze

He wears a dark jacket - 

A severe shirt - 

He sees himself in the mirror - 

This changeling - 

Draws his self portrait -

Haunted by his own gaze -

David Hockney Drawing from Life

National Portrait Gallery 

January 2024

Reading Piranesi

I'm reading Piranesi - 

I'm beguiled -

Those other worlds - 

The faun - 

The Albatross - 

The Great and Secret Knowledge -

January 16 2024

East Stoke

Wearing no watch

I looked up from The Man in the High Castle in The Crooked Book -

Curtis Mayfield was singing on the radio - 

There was an hour glass on top of the piano -

A view of a vaping lounge across the street -

The pale woman bought me my cappuccino - 

I wore no watch - 

January 15 2024

The Crooked Book

Boscombe 

Something too monstrous

I've just read Fatherland - 

For three days I've been a Sturmbannfuhrer - 

Chain smoking in a Kripo Volkawagen -

Haunted by terrible names - 

The autobahn taking me to the east - 

Something too monstrous to be believed - 

East Stoke

January 14 2024

Still wonderful

The boy is pictured sleeping - 

Dreams hidden by closed eyelids -

Naked in the painter's bed -

His love - 

The years as yet not touching him - 

The moment of looking still wonderful - 

The Hockney Exhibition 

National Portrait Gallery

January 12 2023

The little hat

I think of my mum -

The love I had for her -

That gaze - 

That little hat - 

Her coat - 

My eyes fill with tears - 

David Hockney Exhibition

National Portrait Gallery

January 12 2024

Taking my breath away

Taking my breath away -

This exquisite greenery -

The ice chilling my fingertips - 

The pale jewel of the sun - 

January 11 2924

The garden

The Old School House

East Stoke icd

Watching Jason and the Argonauts

The capricious gods, lolling on Olympus - 

The harpies -

Jason's thews - 

The murderous skeletons -

I was sitting next to Nick again - 

Safe in the lounge - 

My world bounded by San Diego Road - 

The Golden Fleece mine to hold - 

January 10 2024

Dorset

The ancient light

The door was open -

A glimpse of serene stone - 

Remembering the pale beauty of the effigy -

The silence - 

The saint filled with pity - 

The ancient light -

January 9 2024

St Martin on the Walls

Wareham 

All taken into a dream

Pale golden light fell from the sky - 

The dark drew back - 

The church -

The tall pines - 

Bathed in that light - 

All taken into a dream - 

January 8 2024

Church of St Mary The Virgin 

East Stoke 

Remembering the rain

A bare oak tree - 

Knotted limbs reflected in the water -

The blueness of the sky held in the flooded field - 

Clouds touching the bright grass - 

Crossing the narrow bridge - 

Remembering the rain - 

January 7 2024

Moreton 

Words in the sky

I looked up to see if there were kites -

Children taken in a blaze of light - 

Poets placing their words in the sky - 

January 6 2024

Weymouth 

Magic in the earth

Tipsy with joy, Murphy snuffed the air -

His paws had wings -

He flew above the bracken -

Lapped water from a bright pool - 

His world was full of wonder - 

His eyes saw magic in the earth - 

January 5 2024

Dorset 

Summer on the high hill

I see her - 

Wanting this to be to true -

Sunbathing on the curving beach -

Darkness gone - 

Swimming in the shining bay -

A joyous arrow - 

Summer on the high hill - 

A bird singing more love more love 

January 4 2024

East Stoke 

The Moon in your eyes

I found the note inside a dusty Everyman -

I remember your long black hair - 

How you unbuttoned your dress - 

How you held me - 

The mist on the river -

The moon in your eyes - 

January 3 2024

The Old School House

East Stoke 

After reading Iris Murdoch

I dream I have a cap of hair - 

A mysterious name - 

A wife swimming naked under a golden sky - 

January 2024

A map with nothing marked

We ate Dorset Apple Cake in the Conservatory -

There was a silent piano - 

The first day of the year in the jacuzzi -

Anne's slim body - 

The days ahead like a map with nothing marked - 

Old roads lost in the sand - 

January 2024

The Grand Hotel 

Swanage