At the Baptist Church Playgroup

Jake sculpting an orange worm from play doh -

Volunteer nanas serving coffee -

Small hands burying monster trucks under sand -

Mobilo -

A plucky grandad -

Young mums wearing leggings -

Singing the wheels on the bus go round and round -

The Welsh Baptist minister re-telling the Parable of The Loaves and the fishes -

The boy who shared his sandwiches -

Salisbury 

March 2026

Jane's flowers

Jane's sent us flowers -

I remember the Birthday Weekend -

The tipsy dinner in The Bear -

Rob's story about the winter -

The terrifying cold -

Jane planning a trip to Rome -

The affogato -

Anne wearing her green dress -

I wrote in her card you are the commissar of kindness -

I thought of her first wild kiss -

We'd just met in a Brighton drenched in summer -

Jane's flowers summoned memory -

I remembered the garden -

Its perfumed air -

How beautiful we were naked -

The flower she wore in her hair -

March 2026 

This magic hour

Golden light on the church tower -

This magic hour -

The river running through gentle fields -

The catkins, haloed in heaven's light, hanging from the tree -

March 2026

East Stoke

Dorset

Saying my name

I'm thinking of Chekov -

How each story stayed with me -

Like the memories of kisses I'd once had -

Of beautiful moments never forgotten -

Of hearing you say my name -

March 2026

Each year a white shell

We walked listening to the sea -

There'd been a low spring tide -

There were hoofprints in the pale yellow sand -

Small clouds were scattered across the hazy blueness of the sky -

The dunes hid their secret kingdoms -

We saw a naked man, walking with a clothed woman -

A boy ran towards the sea -

It was as though the beach would take us to the edge of the world -

Both of us silent -

Leaving our years behind us -

Each year a white shell, left on the sand -

Studland 

March 2026 

Already thinking of us meeting

Reading Chekov's story The Beauties, I thought of you -

How I gaze at your hair, your eyes, your smile -

Sitting next to you in Java -

Longing to see your beautiful body again -

Holding your hand for a moment -

Feeling how warm your hand is, how it clasps mine -

You saying we must meet next week, catch up -

How all I can do is say yes, yes -

Already thinking of us meeting, of what we might say - 

Of being close to you -

Java, Swanage 

March 2026

Words were spoken in an unknown tongue

I heard a beautiful lament -

Haunting music -

Words were spoken in an unknown tongue -

My hair was scented with cologne -

Ŵareham

The Turkish Barbers 

March 2026