A ribbon of seaweed ...

Butterflies flew before us - 

Wild garlic scented the air between the trees - 

We followed the path to the sunlit hilltop -

Gulls flew above the bright grass - 

Below us, the stone circle was hidden by dark pines -

A white yacht danced upon the water - 

There was still salt upon my tongue - 

A ribbon of seaweed around my wrist - 

Saturday 30 May 2020

Kingswood, Nine Barrows Down

Studland 

Dorset 

My heart a wild bird ...

White horses -

Wind blown sand - 

That first moment - 

Salt in my hair - 

Lifted by the wave - 

My heart a wild bird - 

Friday May 29 2020

Knoll Beach 

Studland 

Dorset 

Watching Grayson ...

I'm watching Grsyson Perry -

I'm tipsy -


Grayson has an unsettling gaze -

Those big glasses -


He's talking about his childhood -

Essex and class -


Lockdown -

No one wants to be in front of a television -


Flock wallpaper -

Like asking a fish about water -


Laughing like Konstantin -

A painting of Grayson as a bride -


Cage fighters -

Being vulnerable -


Something about a teddy bear, Alan Measles -

The Saint Sebastian of Covid 19 -





Thursday 28 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Ghosts at noon in Salisbury

The streets near the cathedral were empty of people -

They were as haunted and spellbound as if painted by Chirico - 

I saw ghosts at noon  - 

Angels in Penny Farthing Street - 

Wednesday 27 May 2020

Salisbury 

The brighness fell upon her from the sky ...

I followed Anne into the sea - 

The clear waves held her -

It was as though we were in an ancient story - 

The brightness fell upon her from the sky - 

Tuesday 26 May 2020

Knoll Beach 

Studland 

Dorset 

Tracing the path of a reborn sun ...

I should be reading an early J G Ballard -

The Drought or The Drowned World -


The sky is different -

I breath air filled with strange voices -


I'll take the name of an enigmatic doctor -

I'll trace the course of a reborn sun -




Monday 25 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Cherry cake ...

I remember my mum baking cherry cake -

Round The Horne on the kitchen radio -

My dad mixing Guiness and McEwans -


Anne, using my mum's recipe, brings back those Palmyra Road days -

The armchairs in the lounge -

Top of the Pops after Tomorrow's World -




Sunday 24 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Bright worlds hidden in the everyday sky ...

I'm reading Out of The Silent Planet -

Reading the foxed Pans of my boyhood -


Turning the pages as though I were still living in Palmyra Road -

Bright worlds hidden in the everyday sky -




Friday 22 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

A joy of buttercups...

Anne bakes sourdough bread -

She wears a pale blue linen dress -


The long afternoon fills  the garden -

Paul Simon is singing Michigan seems like a dream to me now -


Beyond the garden is the quiet river -

A joy of buttercups in the water meadows -




Thursday 21 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Tess plays her guitar in the bright garden...

Tess plays her guitar in the bright garden -

The wind blows summer over the rooftops -


Birds sing in the drowsy trees -

I wear the shirt Jane gave me -


I remember watching swallows -

Waking to hear the dawn call to prayer -


I opened the window to a glimpse of heaven -

I drew water from a depthless well -


Tess looks up -

She smiles her dazzling smile -




Wednesday 20 May 2020


The garden of Methuen House
Salisbury

Nostalghia...

This evening I'll watch Tarkovsky's Nostalghia -

My eyes will fill with tears -


I'll remember the witch floating above the bed -

The room where one's innermost desires are met -


What wonders will I see ?  -

What exquisite images glimpsed through tears ? -





Tuesday 19 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

The sky is as blue as a sky in a story ...

I'm reading The Voyage of The Dawn Treader -

I can smell the sea in the bright garden -

Our house becomes a magician's house -


The sky is as blue as a sky in a story -

If I close my eyes, I stand barefoot upon a golden ship -

I will tear off my skin to become young and clean -





Monday 18 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Missing Paul's ...

I can no longer go to Paul's -

I miss his rasping laugh and his savage appercus -

My tangled mane has been spared the razor sharp scissors -

Each day my hair grows longer -

In my dreams I see the chair -

The current issue of Total Carp -

I hear Paul's voice -

Hello dear boy -

Did I tell you about the time Liz and I went to Sorrento? - 




Saturday 16 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

The time of the angels ...

Anne's reading The Time of The Angels -

I remembered my time in Iris' world -

The girls with their caps of shining hair -

The youths of singular beauty -

The lovers left to their terrible colliquoy -

The Thameside rectory -

The mermaid's son -

The characters with their wonderful names -

Hugo Belfounder -

Octavian Gray -

Mary Hartley Finch -

Aleph, Moy -

The strange beauty of all I saw -






Friday 15 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

A debt unpaid...

I'm holding a Waterman pen -

I close my eyes -


I can smell the sea -

I can glimpse the white hotels -


The girl with long black hair -

The seafront, the gaudy pier -


My heart still shamed -

A debt unpaid -




Thursday 14 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

The summer moon lighting our narrow moon ...

A pale bowl holds succulents given us by Tito -

I remember the balcony they came from -

The yachts on the warm sea -

The supper he and his wife gave us -

The rich soup, the red wine -

The stories about horses and sicarios -

The summer moon lighting our narrow room -





Wednesday 13 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

Mute bird ...

May blossom scents the sunlit room -

A mute bird folds its wings -


Shells murmur their stories -

I remember the warmth of the long hours -


Each breath of rich air I took -

The green path between the trees -


The glimmer of bluebells -

The nowness of every moment -




Tuesday 12 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke

Heroes of Telemark ...

Waiting for the Broadcast, I caught the last half hour of Heroes of Telemark -

Kirk with his dimpled chin -

Skis and Nazis -

The simple heroism of the war comics I read as a paper boy -

RAF bombers in the sky -

Machine guns spitting lead -

Plucky Tommies -

Those words which haunted my paper boy's dreams -

Achtung! -

Snell ! - Snell !




Monday 11 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

The Snow Leopard ...

The Snow Leopard starts with some words from Rilke -

I must have courage for the most strange -


I remember the high places I've walked -

The wind blowing over lichened sheepfolds -


I'll read this book as though I were still there -

The dark valley below me -


The rain falling on the bones of the land -

The ancient names under the sky -






Sunday 10 May 2020



The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

She's leaving home ...

I sat like Pushkin amongst my books -

Listening to Paul singing -


I remembered buying the LP -

The mysterious strangers behind Paul, John, George and Ringo -


Putting the record on -

Wearing my smooth skin -


That moment, hearing it the first time -

She's leaving home -






Saturday 9 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset 

English Music ...

I'm reading English Music -

I see my father's face glimmer above my own -

He walks to me across this bright grass -

From shadow to sunlight -

To sit with me -

To breath my air -

To see my heart unhidden -

To hear what I said too late, or never enough -






Thursday 7 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Olives in a blue dish ...

A dragonfly zig zags over the bright uncut lawn -

We could be in Andy Prendergast's garden -

Dandelions brushed our ankles -

All we need are olives in a blue dish -

Red wine -

Birdsong in the long afternoon -

A gentle magician's voice -





Wednesday 6 May 2020



The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

Children painted pictures of rainbows...

We walked the green walls -

May blossom scented the path -


Below us, there were empty streets -

Children painted pictures of rainbows -





Tuesday 5 May 2020



Wareham
Dorset

Another foxed Arrow ...

Another foxed Arrow -

Dracula's Guest -


Abel Behanna, left stark by the tide -

The Countess seeking and finding death -


Each page recalling the time I first read it -

Unrolling the map of my innocent bed -




Monday 4 April 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

I am not a number ...

Tonight, I'll watch The Prisoner - 

Episode 1, Arrival -

I'll be fifteen again -

A willow wand -

Waking up in the nameless village -

Cool as Number 6 -

I'll run across the flawless sands -

I'll have no other words than these -

I am not a number -

I am a free man -



Sunday 3 May 2020


The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset

A bee's wing ...

I heard Pixi Morgan singing -

I saw his gypsy smile -

I was walking near the river -

There were blossoms on the hawthorn tree -

He sang his beautiful song -

He sang she was a rare thing -

As fine a bee's wing -

There were flowers on his coat -

Gentle birds amongst the trees -

A white horse to carry him to his bed -




Saturday 2 May 2020


Rushton, East Stoke
Dorset

We shall call ourselves different names ...

We are like characters in The Sea, The Sea -

Eating strange suppers -

Dandelion salads -

Watercress from the quiet river -

Lentils and chorizo -

Olives -

Samphire -

We shall call ourselves different names -

We shall swim naked amongst dazzling waves -

Have caps of shining hair -




Friday 1 May 2020


The Old School
East Stoke
Dorset