Watching Hamnet

Watching the frightened boy walking towards the dark gateway - 

Trying his best to be brave -

Thinking of Jake, or Wallace -

My eyes filling with tears -

The Rex

Wareham 

January 2026 

Outside Java

We had coffee outside Java -

My heart raced when I saw you walk towards us -

I had to hide how glad I was to see you -

I thought of you resting your head on my shoulder -

Your tears -

How you had come into my life -

Java

Swanage 

February 2026

A rainbow above the dunes

The waves breaking upon the chill sand -

Riders passing on slow horses -

Girls with their boys outside the beach sauna -

Their hearts leaping in their beautiful bodies -

A rainbow above the dunes -

Middle Beach 

Studland 

February 2026

Promoted to glory

You'd say God bless when you gave me a War Cry -

Sitting outside Natwest on a folding chair -

You never had any doubt -

There were no shadows in your house -

Every room was filled with light -

Every window open to the sky -

Wareham

January 2026

Remembering smoking Gitanes

I remember smoking Gitanes -.

Being nineteen and wearing a leather jacket -

Russell Square in the July sunlight -

The fountains, the shade beneath the plane trees -

The sexy smoke in my mouth -

My long hair -

Being unaware of my beauty -

Having no wounds in my heart -

January 2026

No moonlight, only rain

The Dacia's headlamps glimmering in the rainy dark -

The twisty lanes running with water -

Glimpsing swollen rivers -

The vague hills, the heavy sky -

Driving through the flooded villages -

Winterborne Kingston, Tarrant Hinton, Milburn Saint Andrew -

Names for people in a story - 

No moonlight, only rain -

January 2026

After the rain

After the rain, the water meadows reflected the sky -

The river had spilled over ancient hedgerows -

Clouds floated over the winter's grass -

Dark alders cast their tangled shadows on the water -

The moon shone on a sunken land -

East Stoke

Dorset 

January 2026