I'm sipping Das Almas coffee from Virgulino Muniz -
I'm listening to Party At Sunday -
There are woozy guitars -
I remember languid afternoons -
The colour of a dress -
The smoke blown into my mouth -
The drink left in my glass -
Saturday 24 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The trees were still bare on the windswept hill -
I followed the high path to the arch -
Lichen patterned the weathered stone -
Bright grass covered chalk and flint -
White horses dazzled gulls -
Wild light fell from the sky -
Friday 23 April 2021
Creech Arch
Dorset
We walked past the tower above the sea -
I imagined waking up in a room shaken by the wind -
Gazing out at the moon -
Hearing waves break upon the dark shore -
Remembering pieces of a dream -
A ship in an azure sea -
Mermaids singing to golden boys -
Thursday 22 April 2021
Kimmeridge
Dorset
I followed the gamekeeper's path -
Deer watched me -
Beautiful shapes painted onto the air -
Wednesday 21 January 2021
Binnegar
Dorset
I'm drinking coffee in the twilight garden -
There's birdsong -
The shadow of the apple tree is a net cast upon the grass -
Tuesday 20 January 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm reading The Leopard -
I follow Angelica through the hidden door -
No one knows the number of rooms in the palace -
I feel the weight of the Prince's ancient name -
The heat of a sullen sky -
How things must change to remain the same -
Tuesday 20 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The carvers are back -
They know the secrets of the holloway -
The names of the lost villages -
They shape hares by moonlight -
Watch them dance in ancient fields -
They know the way to the high hill -
The place where angels walk -
Where stars fall from heaven -
Sunday 18 April 2021
Wareham
Dorset
I saw the gypsy flag -
The wheel, the blue of the sky, the green of the fields -
I thought of the wind which had dropped ash upon the bright lands -
The trains going to the east -
I thought of these things whilst I marched through the streets of the county town -
How, at any moment, such a wind might blow again -
Saturday 17 April 2021
Dorchester
Dorset
I ate lime and zucchini cake in Billy Winters -
I'd walked here past reefs of alexanders -
There was strange graffiti on the tunnel's walls -
I saw bright sails on the water -
Later this year I would swim here -
Then sit where I sat now, salt in my hair, years washed away for a magic hour -
Friday 16 April 2021
Billy Winters
Weymouth
Dorset
Ambulances wail in the streets -
They fly past Poundland -
Hirelings say a nation mourns -
Years of duty -
There will be prayers on telly -
The ambulances will hunt for innocents in the street -
Thursday 15 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
We walked past blossom and knotted oaks -
Birds sang amongst budding hawthorn -
The river runs over clean stones -
I hear peacocks in the Walled Garden -
Bare hedgerows brimmed with hidden green -
Wednesday 14 March 2021
Moreton
Dorset
Chris took the Peugeot's keys -
Mechanics delved -
Mr Senior smiled his wry unsettling smile -
I remembered a Singer Gazelle -
Gaudy nights with Annick -
The moon in the sky above St Catherine's Hill -
Monday 12 April 2021
Wareham
Dorset
We paddled in the icy sea -
Seagulls brawled for chips -
The dinosaur roared above the kiddies' railway -
Later, I ate lemon polenta -
Remembered past birthday mornings -
Friday's child in the gentle house -
Sunday 11 April 2021
Swanage
Dorset
I'm listening to Kashmir -
I remember Edmund in his dark suit -
His young wife -
He'd loved this song -
I can still hear his voice -
He knew what would happen -
The shadow in the garden -
The letter hidden under a pile of clothes -
Friday 9 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I place new logs on the fire -
I picture the wildwood -
The silence of the trees -
The green heart of the world -
Thursday 8 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I saw bluebells in Church Lane -
A promise of summer -
Ripening apples -
Drowsy pleasures -
Remembering William Blake and Catherine in their garden -
Wednesday 7 April 2021
East Stoke
Dorset
We're brewing up coffee as though we were on the trail to St Louis -
I look up to see an enormous sky -
Twisters flicker on the far horizon -
A young cowboy wears white linen -
I dream of Laredo -
Coyotes greet the moon -
Tuesday 6 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The Vikings was on Easter telly -
There were longships and flaming arrows -
A pit filled with starving wolves -
One-eyed Einar had haunted the dreams of my boyhood -
I'd watched the pillage on my parents' Ferguson -
Heard Odin's shield maidens in the hall -
Monday 5 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
There were others who walked with us -
Gypsies who'd been hunted in the woods -
Those who'd lived with hunger -
Those who'd been led in chains from their vivid world -
I heard their voices -
Their words were written on my heart -
Saturday 3 April 2021
Kill The Bill
Weymouth
Dorset
I'm wearing sunglasses indoors -
My lockdown hair waits for the scissors -
I listen to a band called The Memories -
I could dance in front of this mirror -
Weave yellow feathers into my hair -
Friday 2 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm watching The Irregulars -
The dome of St Pauls rises above teeming rookeries -
Smoke from a thousand chimneys hides the sun -
Dacoits skulk in Limehouse -
Sherlock weeps, clinging to a stone angel -
Mycroft's a member of The Golden Dawn -
Watson's lovesick -
The Irregulars risk souls for a purse of sovereigns -
Thursday 1 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm watching The Irregulars -
The dome of St Pauls rises over teeming rockeries -
Smoke from a thousand chimneys hides the sun -
Dacoits skulk in Limehouse -
Sherlock weeps, clinging to a stone angel -
Mycroft's a member of The Golden Dawn -
Watson lovesick -
The Irregulars risk their souls for a purse of sovereigns -
Thursday 1 April 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I remember when I heard island music in a shebeen -
Danced slowly to languid guitars -
Smoked joints in the blue car -
Every night I walked under different stars -
Wednesday 31 March 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
I'm reading Persian Fire -
I read of cities founded before time began -
Temples housing hungry gods -
I read names, each one a spell -
Ashur -
Sargon -
Arachosia -
Cambyses -
Khorasan -
I join the rising to the setting of the sun -
Tuesday 30 March 2021
The Old School House
East Stoke
Dorset
The wide beach was an empty kingdom -
A girl and her boy ran across the sand -
The waves welcomed their young bodies -
While shells were beneath their feet -
It was like the beginning of the world -
Later, they would eat apples amongst the dunes -
Taste the salt on each other's skin -
Dream of stars above a shining tree -
Monday 29 March 2021
Bramble Bay
Studland
Dorset
