Bright birds in a dark sky

I gazed at the iconic vinyl - 

Comrades wore keffiyehs - 

Soon there would be poetry -

Our words bright birds in a dark sky -

Our tongues bitter -

Yet sweet with love -

Dorchester 

February 2024

Hanging Rock

Their eyes seeing unseen things - 

Dreamtime takes them -

Bronze armoured insects watch them leave this world -

February 2024

Dorset

 

Last golden sunlight

Last golden sunlight on the water -

The lichened trees - 

Remembering reading Apollinaire -

Farewell, farewell -

Beheaded sun -

East Stoke

Dorset 

February 2024

After reading The Man in the High Castle

I'll throw the yarrow sticks -

Pick up three worn coins -

Haunted by those last mysterious pages - 

The gentle Mr Tagomi seeing cars like big

brutal crushers -

The Oracle writing the book - 

Chung Fu -

Inner Truth - 

Dorset

February 2024

To know, fully, the meaning of the word, komorebi

Here was a way to live the rest of my life - 

For each moment to be wonderful -

To see sunlight, leaking through the trees -

To know, fully, the meaning of the word, komorebi -

To see the moon whilst standing at the bottom of a dry well - 

To ease my heart -

To know next time is next time -

Now is now -

Dorset

February 2024

Mustafa singing

His songs called to my heart - 

They filled my eyes with tears and wonder - 

I breathed the air where he was born -

I felt the weight of his longing and sorrow -

Dorchester 

February 2024

Coffee in Armans

A violin concerto on the radio in Armans -

An exquisite almond croissant - 

Bright lamps hanging from the ceiling -

Jake dreaming -

Rain falling - 

Armans

Salisbury 

February 2024

Watching Poor Things

Airships in a lurid sky - 

Opulent leviathans of steamships - 

Mad surgery - 

Furious jumping -

Losing myself in a mad steampunk parallel world - 

The Rex

Wareham

February 2024

Remembering your smile

I'm in Java -

Waiting for banana bread - 

Wearing my red scarf -

Remembering your smile -

Java Coffee House

Swanage 

February 2024

Josie's wet suit

Josie knew these gentle waves -

Her wet suit was like a selkie's skin -

Her eyes the colour of the sea - 

Joe's Cafe

Studland 

February 2024

How long

The doll, wrapped in a small white shroud -

Carried by a father, imagining that terrible anguish -

The words he also carried - 

How long do we have to audition for your empathy - 

London

February 2924

The youth singing

The youth singing -

True words staying in my heart -

The streets a festival of tears and joy - 

London 

February 2024

Destiny is all

I'm watching The Last Kingdom -

A king holds the hand of a dead saint -

A warrior sobs, remembering when he was a slave -

Lords ride into burning towns - 

Dorset 

February 2024

Water Lane

One of five rivers -

Entangled with churches -

Pilgrim paths -

Willow trees -

I imagine living in Water Lane -

One of the small houses -

Old bottles in the cellar -

The river singing - 

Summer in my glass - 

Water Lane

Salisbury 

February 2024

An afternoon in Dorchester

Exquisite shirts -

A Rupert Bear annual -

The sculptress with her wild hair -

Dorchester 

February 2923

The home of the claw

I passed by Funworld - 

The home of the claw -

Soft rain fell on the grey sea - 

Swanage 

February 2024

Walking towards Bramble Bay

A bright sea glimpsed through thorns - 

Blue February sky - 

White trees - 

Walking towards Bramble Bay - 

Past the beach sauna -

The waves cooling the slim burning girls -

Calming their long legged boys - 

The silence of the dunes - 

The wide sands - 

Faces in the clouds - 

Studland 

Dorset 

February 2024

Watching Whitechapel

A sly pleasure -

Watching Whitechapel late at night - 

The dark shore of the river -

The tangle of alleyways -

The snarly tec with blonde hair - 

Pouring myself a Bells -

Rain falling on the crossroads -

A maul dropped on the Highway - 

Dorset

February 2024

Ploughing the sea

I'm reading Nostromo -

Donna Antonia waits for news in the sala of the Casa Gould -

The languid afternoon is ending - 

Beyond the mountains, the gran bestia -

One more pronunciamiento -

One more taken to the convent wall - 

Intrada de la Sombra - 

Ploughing the sea -

East Stoke

Dorset 

February 2024

The sorrow of grandfathers

They care nothing for the sorrow of grandfathers -

When I hold my grandson in my arms, I feel that sorrow - 

I see his small shoes -

I feel the weight of those grandfathers' tears - 

I lose my voice because I have lost it crying out - 

I become a ghost, my arms made of air - 

Dorset

February 2024

Waiting for Andreas

Waiting for Andreas - 

Soon we would hear his voice -

Beautiful and strange - 

Like a voice from another world -

As though a veil had been drawn back -

Flooding our hearts with light -

Dorchester 

February 2024

Remembering Peveril House

With Peter in Java -

Remembering Peveril House -

The ancient bone of the tree -

The high ceilinged rooms - 

The calm stone - 

The silence in the hall - 

Swanage

February 2024

That precious secret

Snowdrops once more under the pine trees -

Like that precious secret -

When I held your hand - 

East Stoke

Dorset 

February 2024

Bottle garden

I was beguiled - 

This green jewel of a world -

Delicate and wonderful - 

Drawing my gaze to its fragile heart -

Salisbury 

February 2024

The deep time of the stone

Reading Genesis in the lonely church -

Bare trees on the hillside - 

Glimpsing the sea - 

Snow drops amongst ivy 

Mary's serene grief and wonder - 

The deep time of the stone - 

St Nicholas's Church

Kimmeridge 

February 2024

Saying yes to vinegar

Waiting for five cod five chips -

Wearing my big coat -

Saying yes to vinegar - 

Ramshill

Scarborough 

January 2024

Delicate stars

Halva in Armans -

Villa Doluca -

Next to one of the five rivers - 

Lamps like delicate stars -

Salisbury

January 2024