Watching Black Doves

I'm watching Black Doves -

A beautiful assassin slips off her dress -

Murder cars wait in dark streets -

November 10 2026 

We ran from the sauna to the November sea

We ran from the sauna to the November sea -

You were so brave and beautiful running across the sand -

I told you later that I loved every moment -

The wonderful coldness of the waves -

The sauna as hot as the sun -

Sitting next to you -

Your lovely body only inches from mine -

Studland 

November 9 2026 

Looking at "Gosport In Old Photographs"

I saw the town which had been my world - 

The Ritz Cinema where I'd seen Doctor Zhivago - 

The harbour with the long grey ships - 

The boating lake - 

The small streets where I'd worn my new skin -

Sighing after girls - 

Shutting the book - 

Remembering when my friends were heroes -

When we had wings to chase the moon - 

Sandford

November 8 2926

NIgel's dreadlocks

I miss Nigel's dreadlocks -

His bright clever eyes -

How he wore shorts even when the air was icy -

Rescued donkeys -

Could quote Berkman -

Got up at dawn to walk the salty lanes above the bay -

Thin body casting a trickster's shadow -

Sharing his stories -

The anarchists in Budapest -

Picking apples for dizzying cider in Britanny -

Being a roadie for the young Ian Drury -

Showing his scars from The Battle of the Beanfield -

Now living in his van somewhere in Scotland -

A sly angel with a beguiling tongue -


November 7 2026 

As though an angel had heard my voice

The branches of the apple tree caught stars -

A pine tree in the churchyard held the moon - 

The air was still - 

It was as though an angel had heard my voice -

Knew all the secrets of my heart - 

November 6 2026

How few years left

Darling Sophie rings -

I hear her voice in the bright kitchen -

How few years left to love her -

November 5 2026

The day slowly becoming night

The louche bookseller smiled his slow unsettling smile -

He had jet black hair -

He tapped the cover of Kolyma Tales, then that of a Poppy Z Brite -

Interesting he said -

They came in today -

I'd seen a worn Eliphas Levi -

Dogma and Ritual of High Magic amongst a nest of lurid Sci Fi -

I ordered a cappuccino -

Turned icy pages, then steamy ones -

Watched creatures go by -

Felt the day slowly becoming night -


The Crooked Book
Boscombe
Bournemouth

November 4 2026