After watching Nouvelle Vague

I'll wear sunglasses, even at night -

Drive a louche Buick -

Walk on my hands - 

Play pinball with a cigarette hanging from my mouth -

There'll be cool jazz - 

I'll say art is never finished, only abandoned -

Coupe, coupe!

The Rex, Wareham 

February 2026

Remembering the banlieues

Nigel still breathes the air of the banlieues -

Remembers the brutal balconies -

The smell of petrol -

The wailing of police cars -

Swanage 

February 2026

I found God

His scarf wrapped round his neck -

Lean body trembling -

Peaky Blinders cap -

I found God he says - 

Swanage

February 2026

Those unblinking eyes

The Eastern European brings me a flat white -

He looks like a zek -

That shaven head -

Those unblinking eyes -

Swanage 

February 2026

The soft wings of prayers

On the high hill above the sea -

The wind shaken Chapel -

Two doors in the dark stone - 

The soft wings of prayers -

Sheep grazing on the bright wet grass -

A tree with white blossoms in a garden -

Abbotsbury 

February 2026

Reading For Whom the Bell Tolls

The trail through the pines -

The snow falling almost in June -

 Anselmo saying I am against the killing of all men -

The flails and sickles in the town square -

Roberto holding Maria's hand -

How he says thy hand is enough -

The fascist planes in the sky -

Three score years and ten becoming two days -

Putting the book down -

My heart filled with sorrow, then with love -

February 2026

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