A Half English

A Half English in Beavers -

No sign of the land girl with her corduroy trousers -

Gentle pensioners -

Soft rain falling on Institute Road -

Swanage 

February 2026

Homeless man

Your wild beard -

Your mad hair -

The bottle of vodka at your lips -

The customers in Greggs hearing you cry out -

Your voice -

Like a wound -

I can still hear it -

Anguished and terrible -

Salisbury 

February 2026

Nigel's back

Nigel's back -

Laura caught a glimpse of his dreadlocks -

I've missed his stories -

Dwarf Lords in Hackney -

The Battle of the Beanfield -

Ian Drury -

Flying Saucers -

Taking a donkey through Customs -

Drinking Breton cider - 

Dazzling me with names -

Memories of gypsies -

The secrets of Autumn fields -

Swanage 

February 2026

Going live

Going live -

Studio air zinging with radio magic -

My voice a silken net -

February 2926

A golden key

Twelve years old -

Finding a golden key -

Holding your future life in your young hands -

February 2026

Both of us grandfathers

Hearing Jay's voice -

As though his hair was still a splendid mane -

As though he were wearing stripy trousers -

Red Converses -

All those years still to be lived - 

Those long summers -

Throwing darts -

Harveys in the sunlit bar -

The house on Albion Hill -

Russell lighting up a Marlboro -

The foxed Master and Margarita -

The waves breaking on the stones -

Morrison singing She lives on Love Street -

The last notes of The Firebird -

All this, in those first words, ringing Jay -

Both of us grandfathers -

*

Watching Werner Herzog's Nosferatu

The gypsies with their dark Aztec faces - 

Their silences -

The lanterns of the coach glimmering in the darkness -

The wine in a crystal glass -

Bruno Ganz writing to his darling -

That terrible goblin face, floating above the bed -

February 2026