Sunday 31 May 2015

The Rollator ...



I saw the rollator in the hallway, next to the telephone table - 

My dad won't use the rollator - 

It makes me look old he told the OT - watch me walk

My mum took a few moments to recognise Anne - 

I sat on the sofa of memory holding my mum's hand - 

She said sometimes when I come back from the shop with the trolley, I say, please God, let me see someone I know

When I walked around Waitrose, every shopper was twinned with their older self - 

Even children were followed by flickering stooping shadows - 


12.15
Sunday May 31 2015

Staunton Road 
Havant
Hampshire 


Saturday 30 May 2015

Angels in a camper van ...

 

The car park behind Sainsburys is now brimming with opulent Mitsubishi Shoguns -  

Tattooed bravos from the holiday park swagger into the Black Bear for karaoke and Ringwood Best - 

Delicate Tarquins buy oysters in The Salt Pig - 

From time to time a camper van will park next to a shiny Kia Sportage - I'll admire its louche bodywork - Huarache Lights  will be playing on the van stereo -  

A lean dad will emerge - he'll be wearing Ray Bans - his wife will wear a green dress -

Two barefoot children will scamper into Sainsburys - perhaps there'll be a dog, a keen lurcher, with them - 

I'll imagine then driving down to Sennen Cove in a tiger striped camper van - 

Anne will be wearing a necklace of blue stones - I'll wear a straw trilby - 

I think I'll put Downtown Lights on the stereo - 


19.00
Tuesday 26 May 2015

Sainsburys Car Park
Wareham
Purbeck 

Friday 29 May 2015

Gallows Corner ...






It was my turn to choose the walk this week - Milton Abbas, I'd said - we'll see Gallows Corner

White cottages lined the village street - each lawn was a green silky skin -

The churchyard was a gentle wildness of lichened tombstones - birds sang in quiet trees - 

We followed ancient paths through fields of green wheat - 

We smelled wild garlic under sycamore trees - brimstone butterflies danced over coppiced hazel - 

Forgotten lanes were bordered by waist high cow parsley and red campion - flint lay upon the chalky earth like fragments of primeval bone - 

We pushed open gates of rusted iron - 

At last we came to Gallows Corner - 

Three paths met there - there was nothing to see, no shapes half hidden in the air - 

But still I felt uneasy, almost afraid - 

Let's drink our coffee somewhere else Penelope said - 


12.00
Thursday 28 2015

Gallows Corner
Dorset 













Thursday 28 May 2015

Talking Trees ...







I parked the red Peugeot in the sunlit courtyard - at first I was unsure which door I had to open - 

A tree in the centre of the courtyard was hung with sonnets, each poem an eternal fruit - 

Old stones were warmed by the late morning sun - 

I followed a slender white haired woman into the old flour mill - 

The high roof was supported by a pale web of beams - the black bones of old machinery were visible - 

All around me was a murmuring glade - 

Birds fashioned from paper landed upon shards of driftwood - tiny glowing portraits were hung upon a wall of delicate greenery - 

I gazed upon a elfin face crowned with delicate golden leaves - 

A ball gown was made from pages torn from romantic novels - a mannequin wore a bravo's coat - 

A naked man and woman were fashioned from knotted wood - 

I walked ensorcelled, wreathed in ivy, talking to trees - 


11.45
Wednesday 27 2015

Talking Trees
Visual Art Installation
Kingston Country Courtyard
Kingston
Purbeck 





Wednesday 27 May 2015

If you look long enough, you'll see faces ...



I apologise for the uniform
the artist said -

He was wearing distressed yet elegant dungarees - he had a cap of silky hair - 

I'd driven down a lane between slender trees - the house was one of pale shining stone - 

It was Purbeck Art Week - I'd gazed at seascapes in lichened barns, a hare dancing under a starry sky, a statue of a boy as Pan, wild eyed and smooth skinned - 

Now I was looking at abstract paintings in a high ceilinged studio - 

I stood before a canvas of blue dreamy strangeness - 

If you look long enough the artist said you'll see faces


15.00
Tuesday 26 May 2015

The Cottage Studio
Heather Lodge 
Norden
Corfe Castle
Dorset 













Tuesday 26 May 2015

Just after sunset ...




It was just after sunset - I heard birdsong in the forgiving garden - 

There were pine cones scattered upon the grass - I could smell lilac blossom - 

Mist stole across the water meadows - the river reflected the beautiful wounded sky - 

A half-moon shone above the silent dreaming earth - 


20.45
Sunday 24 May 2015

East Stoke
Dorset 



Monday 25 May 2015

The last steam train ...




We stood upon the footbridge, looking down upon the last steam train of the day - 

The green locomotive nudged its five carriages into the station - 

No one stepped out upon the platform - 

Steam hung in the air over the 3470 Manston - its iron sinews dripped oil - 

The door to the station master's parlour was locked and barred - 

Bright posters depicted resorts blessed with pristine dazzling sands - 

I thought of Len, wielding a narrow bladed shovel, master of steam, fire and water - 


17.30
Saturday 25 May 2015

Corfe Castle Railway Station
Dorset










Sunday 24 May 2015

Thinking about dancing ...




I'm snarfing Walkers cheese and onion crisps, woozy after bumpers of Wainwright - 

Paul and Sophie are thinking about bands for the reception - 

I'm all for Nakisha Esnard - 

This morning we checked out the village hall - David Hollister leapt out his low slung sled - charming as ever, he gave us  the guided tour

How shall we choreograph the dancing? Sophie asks - 

Three young rabbits steal into the dreaming garden - 


20.55
Sunday 24 May 2015

The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset





Saturday 23 May 2015

Waiting for George and Linda ...



We're waiting for George and Linda, sitting under the new parasol - 

I've just mowed the fragrant grass - a boy is playing frisbee in the churchyard - 

I can hear birdsong - cows are gazing in the field next to the small cemetery - 

May blossoms scent the warm air - I can see the pale church tower - 

Sophie and Paul are with George and Linda - they're now on the Weymouth train from Waterloo - 

Soon I will be wearing two suits, one light blue, one dark - 

There will be dancing on a day of joy, remembrance of bright days on a day of ending - 


16.53
Saturday 23 May 2015

The Old School House
East Stoke 
Dorset


Friday 22 May 2015

Finding a map of Graceland ...



We've been spring cleaning like Mole in Mole End this week - George and Linda are spending the weekend with us - 

We've polished and dusted, swept away delicate empires of woodlice, thrown away cobwebbed gowns - 

I found mysterious bottles in the cupboard under the stairs - 

Anne found a map of Graceland in Tessa's bedroom - 

I heard the song by Paul Simon in my head - 

We were all, I thought, on our way to Graceland - 

It might even be found here, under these gentle rain clouds -


11.00
Friday 22 May 2015

The Old School House
East Stoke 
Purbeck




Thursday 21 May 2015

The Book of Remembrance ...



We spent a few moments inside the church - they were not yet ready for us at Willow Lodge - 

We sat under bright windows - Anne went outside, to ring Jane on her mobile - 

I read a page from a Book of Remembrance 

I murmured the names of the dead young men - 

By one name were the words P.O.W Japanese Hands and the date 28 7 43 -

I closed my eyes - I heard pitiless voices - the smell of the jungle filled the nave -

16.00
Monday 18 May 2015

St John's 
Southbourne
Hampshire 



Wednesday 20 May 2015

The Roman road, memory like smoke ...



There
- this is the Roman road said Penny -  

I could smell May blossom - we'd walked through deep woods - two girls, sitting high on deep chested horses, had passed us on the bridleway - a deer had gazed at me with a strange gentleness - 

The straight track ran before us between banks of cow parsley - trees cast dancing shade - 

Once Eagles had been carried here - 

The wind blew long memory against my face like smoke - 


13.00
Wednesday 20 2015

Corfe Millen
Dorset



Tuesday 19 May 2015

Snarfing pork pies ...



Between care homes, we had lunch in The Ship Inn - 

It was high tide choppy water lapped salt rimed stone - rain clouds filled the sky - 

A gang of brawny oldsters joshed each other - 

A silverback wearing magnificent brogues pointed to his chum -

We're the only two under seventy seven he roared - 

Anne and I snarfed pork pies like LA cops in a steamy patrol car - 

Soon we would walk around another day room, lined with chairs - 

I would try to avoid the gazes of watery vacant eyes - 


14.00
Monday 18 May 2015

The Ship Inn
Langstone
Hampshire 


 






Monday 18 May 2015

Sunday evening in The King's Arms ...



Richard and I sipped our tasters

I heard a sad jukebox 

The young Irishman recommended Lancaster Bomber or Proper Job

We chose Proper Job

We pushed our way through ghosts to a roughly hewn settle - 

We lifted our straight glasses like half pay captains - 

Sunday evening lay its kindly cloak upon the town - 


21.15
Sunday 18 May 2015

The King's Arms
Wareham
Purbeck













Sunday 17 May 2015

We felt our years, like wings upon our backs ...




Richard and I visited the small cemetery at Moreton this afternoon - 

We'd come to see the grave of T E  Lawrence - 

Later, we would cross the river, to follow a straight track through the pines - 

Gazing at the white stone set over illustrious dust, we felt our years like wings upon our backs - 

They would carry us away, far from our precious hearths - 


15.00
Sunday 17 May 2015

Moreton
Dorset



Saturday 16 May 2015

Polar Wood ...






We parked the red Peugeot in the shade of tall trees - 

Richard spoke of walking the Camino de Santiago - I imagined him standing before the soaring Cathedral, a white shell fastened to his coat - 

We walked up to Polar Wood - fields of rape were yellow sails under a bright blue sky - nettles stung my bare ankles - 

The wood was enclosed by a lichened drystone wall - old trees were in new leaf - 

I could glimpse the sea - a yacht was sailing past St Adhelm's Head - 

We fell silent once we were inside the wood - 

We followed a winding path through wild garlic flowers and bluebells -

A red butterfly opened its dream dusted wings - 

An unseen bird sang with its sweet voice - 


16.00 
Saturday 16 May 2016

Polar Wood 
Kingston
Purbeck




Friday 15 May 2015

The glider ...



I lay on the bright grass with Anne, reading Blood's a Rover

Elroy's short sentences were like pops of Old Crow -

The Count had fingernails like claws - 

I looked upwards, distracted by sweet birdsong - 

A glider was moving across the sky - I followed its silent circling flight - 

I felt the warmth of the sun upon my face - 

Too soon I lost sight of the slender visitant from the heavens - 

Ghostlike wings carried it into remote blueness - 

A kestrel waited on top of the church tower - 

Clumsy bees lolloped just above galaxies of daisies - 

16.00
Wednesday 13 May 2015

The garden 
The Old School House
East Stoke 
Dorset