The wind carried only promise ...

Walking towards the sea along Ballard Down was another cure for melancholy - 

Tender blossoms graced a leafless tree - 

The sky was a flawless blue above the bay - 

A yacht sailed past Old Harry - 

I saw the shadows of rooks cast fleetingly upn a quiet field - 

Catkins were heavy with pollen - 

The wind carried only pollen - 

The wind carried only promise - 

The bright grass held us under heaven - 

11.30

Saturday 24 February 2018

Ballard Down

Studland 

Dorset  

The forest will wait until he's dreaming ...

I'm holding in my hands my dad's Sunday School Prize - 

Once he'd treasured these pictures of Robin Hood and Little John - 

He'd read how three bold achers fought brave foresters  

He'd stood by Robin's side when rescued the widow's three sons - 

He'd groaned when the pale Abbess opened a vein in Robin's arm - 

*

I turn the pages of the book - 

With every chapter there's a memory - 

My dad's sitting beside me now - 

He's anxious to hunt the sheriff's deer with brother Dennis - 

Town Street is shaded by noble oak trees - 

Later they might play football - 

The forest will wait until he's dreaming - 

15.58

Friday 23 February 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset

The poet's words ...

I saw Journey's End this afternoon - 

I saw the faces of gentle school boys white with terror - 

I'm still blinded by their tears - 

*

In my dreams sometimes I wear khaki - 

I board a train at a familiar station - 

I exchange the sun for a midnight flare - 

*

The poet's words sound in my ears - 

Now all roads lead to France - 

18.58

Thursday 22 February 2018

The Rex

Wareham 

Dorset 

A dream of ancient bone ...

Dark ribs hung downwards from the serpent of the spine - 

A whiplike tail was held high above the Roman mosaic - 

I stood beneath the small eyeless head - 

A dream of ancient bone filled the Victorian Gallery - 

10.54

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Dorset County Museum 

Dortchester 

Dorset 

The empty pew ...

I stood a few moments before the empty pew - 

My dad had sat here, all those services over the years in the welcoming church - 

He'd listened to Canon Tom's swashbuckling sermons  

He'd laughed at the children squirting the curate with holy water -

He'd put on his Armistice suit and shaken hands - 

Now I listened to muffled bells - 

The two tall candles were already lit - 

I knew the final car was drawing near - 

I would carry silence only shoulders - 

I would listen to music from very far away - 

11.15

Monday 19 February 2018

St Faiths 

Havant 

Varnsey measures ...

Richard made us all Cosmopolitans - 

Are they Varnsey measures I asked - 

Oh, ordinary measures Richard said - 

I sat at the long table with my cocktail glass - 

I took a careful sip - 

The beautiful room spun round - 

They were Varnsey measures alright - 

12.26

Sunday 18 February 2018

Ferring 

East Sussex

The sweet fruits of memory ...

I'm reading the diary my dad kept when he joined the Navy - 

I found it amongst a poignant trove of photographs - 

A whole life was hoarded in the sideboard - 

I picture him writing the entries - 

There he is - 

He has a head for figures and for rifle drill - 

Wiry, quick witted, he'll be proud to wear his doeskins number one - 

He'll exchange pinched streets for tropic shores - 

He'll harvest the sweet fruits of memory - 

21.30

Saturday 17 February 2018

Staunton Road 

Havant 

Memory stills my tongue ...

We're driving to the empty house -

I can hear the voices of the darkening motorway - 

Memory stills my tongue - 

The moon is hidden from the world - 

19.00

Friday 18 February 2018

M27 

Around Southampton 

When will I wear my sky blue suit ? ...

I'm idling in the Delfino Lounge - 

I've just bought an exquisite shirt - 

I'm beguiled by a wall of Soviet art - 

I've given a small coin to a homeless man - 

California soul wails a hidden jukebox - 

I think about the Chapel of Rest, deep in the hood - 

I think of all the stories I left there - 

How long will I remember them ? 

*

The doors had been locked on New Year's Eve - 

A fox had walked under the starless sky - 

A double Jameson Lou I said - 

Richard was wearing his older brother's coat - 

The Simple Men played their last song - 

But when will I wear my sky blue suit ?

How long will I dance to midnight guitars ?

10.43

Thursday 15 February 2018

Delfino Lounge 

Poole

Looking at a map of Lady Anne's Way ...

Penelope I recited the northern names - 

Askrigg - Langstrothdale Chase - Wharfedale - Little Ormside - Owl Gill - 

We'll need to use a compass Penelope said - 

Already I felt the wind against my face - 

I saw the remote farmhouses steeped in rain - 

Swallows circled the roofless nave of an abbey church - 

Chill streams joined a shining river - 

When are we going ? I asked Penelope - 

In June Penelope said - 

15.00

Tuesday 13 February 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset  

Oh, Sisyphus ! ...

My dad loved words as well as his glass - 

He was nimble with a thesaurus - 

He compiled crosswords for the Parish Magazine - 

I'm reading his arcane clues - 

Gilded city, sought never found -

Revolutionary necessity - 

Teutonic M1- 

Sisyphus, do make it a little easier pleaded the editor - 

16.59

Monday 12 February 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Waking at four in the morning ...

I see my dad's face when I wake at four in the morning - 

*

I see him as a wide eyed infant in a photographer's studio - 

There's a tall plant in a vase behind him - 

The market in Charlotte Street has just started - 

*

I see him as a dockyard apprentice, peaked cap at a saucy angle - 

I see him in tropical whites on the Duke of York - 

*

I see him older, a father now, gold rings round his sleeves - 

*

I see him walking down a street in Lagos - 

The crowd is celebrating independence - 

He's living the joyous moment - 

*

I see him, with his Chief Petty Officers, on the ramparts of Fort Saint Angelo - 

* 

I see him in his Armistice suit, in his eighth decade, smiling and dapper - 

*

Then I see him as I saw him last, in his new bed - 

All his faces are before me - 

The long night gives way to day - 

20.12 

Sunday 11 February 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A new bed ...

My dad lay in his new shiny bed - 

I didn't want to leave him - 

I leant over and touched his jacket - 

How could I be afraid ? - 

But I knew everything was finished - 

He was already further away from me than the most distant star - 

11.00

Saturday 10 February 2018

Chapel of Rest

Co-op Funeral Directors 

Havant 

Hampshire 

Different shirts ...

Waiting for the comrades, I read Gareth's words -

I remembered the gaudy nights, the guitars played at midnight - 

I'd been beguiled by a puckish smile - 

There was a summer moon in the velvet sky -  

Each one of us wore our promise as though we wore a golden shirt - 

*

I remembered the long drive north, the clear stream flowing in the darkness - 

Rain had fallen upon the roof of the small house - 

The American mother had smoked thin cigarettes - 

We'd reeled through waist high thistles - 

I'd heard louche wisdom over a glass - 

* 

Later, there'd been a juke box in a Southsea bar - 

Bruce Springsteen was singing we were born to run - 

Already there were holes in our coats - 

*

Now the wind that sweeps round the world is seeking us out - 

I hear its voice in the quiet streets - 

Beloved faces become chill masks - 

We put on different shirts - 

20.45

Thursday 8 February 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

A suit the colour of the sky ...

Soon the day will come - 

I'll wear a suit the colour of the sky - 

My shoes will be for dancing - 

Music will be heard in the empty house - 

My sorrow will become a song - 

17.31

Wednesday 7 February 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The Lion Man's gaze ...

I stood before the Lion Man - 

His gaze fell upn me - 

I pictured the shaman who had called him forth - 

I saw a world locked in ice - 

I saw the subtle hands which had shaped the hard won ivory - 

I felt, for a moment, the power of spells cast in a time beyond all counting - 

I felt the texture of unknown worlds - 

I understood the map marked out on a drum of reindeer skin - 

12.15

Tuesday 6 February 2018

Living with gods, peoples, places and unknown worlds 

British Museum 

The weight of love ...

I'm on the Virgin Train to Kings Cross - 

The Train Manager is apologising for delays and cancellations - 

England slips by my window - 

The sky is filled with fragile clouds - 

I remember this morning - 

I arrived early by taxi - 

The garden was made more beautiful by its treasury of names - 

Tall trees held heaven close to the chill earth - 

The black cars were enfolded in silence - 

Paul carried a son's precious burden upon his shoulders - 

Yet each of us carried the immense and tender weight of love - 

Monday 5 February 2018

Scunthorpe 

I had to dance ...

I had to dance - 

There were guitars and mandolins - 

A girl was already dancing on a table - 

Do you remember this song ? Jay asked - 

Up on Cripple Creek they sang - 

I remembered a brilliant boy now dead - 

I saw again his smile - 

I danced for that smile - 

I danced with his shadow until the music stopped - 

21.54

Saturday 4 February 2018

Biddle Bros

Clapton 

London 

In the Abbey Tavern ...

They're roaring in The Abbey Tavern - 

The rugby gods are showing their beautiful wounds - 

Jay has the look of a benign prophet - 

The youth wear their promise as though their golden day will ever end - 

17.44

Saturday 3 February 2018

The Abbey Tavern 

Kentish Town 

London

Reading Flaubert ...

I'm reading Flaubert's L'Education Sentimentale -

Looking at a photograph of myself aged eighteen, I see Frederic - 

There I am, thinking of melancholy poems - 

My hair is long - 

I'm wearing a coat of innocence - 

Soon I'll have my heart stolen in a library - 

I'll learn tender lessons one night when its raining - 

New words will be whispered in my ear - 

23.00

Friday 2 February 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

The Queen of The Rex ...

Before the main feature, we remembered Jocelyn, the Queen of The Rex - 

No longer would she drawl my name when she handed me my ticket - 

No longer would she gulp her bumper of red before the lights dimmed - 

Her glass would be empty - 

Someone else would sit in her front row seat - 

She once trod the boards as a pert soubrette - 

She'd played Molly Brazen in Peter Brook's movie - 

I gazed at the display in the foyer, honouring her memory - 

How beautiful and louche she'd once been - 

Her face when old still held the bright shadow of her youth - 

18.45

Wednesday 31 Jamuary 2018

The Rex 

Wareham

Dorset