At Casa Kiko

After the Vermouth, sardines and anchovies -

Breathing salty air -

Glimpsing the warm sea -

Wearing my faux borsalino -

Remembering Geraldine the drive here in the taxi -

The dark trees shading the pavements -

Hearing Anne ask for the quenta -

The joy of being alive under a dazzling sun - 

Casa Kiko 

Rincon de la Victoria 

June 2026 

Swimming before breakfast

Swimming before breakfast -.

Walking across the fine dark sand -

Joyous in the warm silky sea -

June 2026 

Lavazza above the clouds

Sipping Lavazza above the clouds -

Listening to the engines singing -

Glimpsing a parched land from the blueness of heaven - 

June 2026 

Dreaming of jets

In the night, I'll dream of jets -

White shapes in the dawn sky -

Circling above me -

My body made of air -

.June 2026 

Listening to Radio 4 Extra in the Dacia

Paul Temple and Steve dancing in a night club -

Steve saying darling - 

A roadster driving over gravel -

Gunshots, the hiss of a soda siphon -

The louche notes of a saxophone -

June 2026 

Forgetting the creaking stair

Delaying facing the night -

Watching the young football playing gods -

Forgetting the creaking stair -

June 2026 

Neill remembers reading Dennis Wheatley

Neill remembers reading Dennis Wheatley - 

Those shameless Arrow paperbacks - 

Their covers showing sneering obergruppenfuhrers - 

Parachuting heroes with savage names - 

Terrified women with wild manes of hair -

Laughing his dry splendid laugh - 

I was fifteen he says -

The Bear 

Wareham 

June 2026