Same as it ever was ...

David Byrne is singing Once In a Lifetime - 

He's barefoot - 

He's wearing a pale blue suit - 

He wears his hair as a silver crown - 

Same as it ever was he sings - 

Same as it ever was - 

31 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Reading The Buried Giant ...

I'm reading The Buried Giant -

It's strange and sad and beautiful - 

The she dragon's mist hides the apple tree - 

The boatman will ask the question he must ask - 

I'll see the shape of the island from the shore - 

I'll remember a field in summer - 

The colour of your dress - 

Your skin against mine - 

30 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset

A perilous joyous path ...

I'm walking once more on a perilous joyous path -

On one side, I see a dark valley, lost in shadow - 

On the other, a beautiful sky, a sea filled with wonder - 

29 August 2021

Middle Beach 

Studland 

Dorset

When will they wake ...

I was beguiled by the retired journalist's beard - 

It was as though I were listening to a prophet -

Along the seafront, the deckchairs waited -

When will they wake the prophet asked - 

28 August 2021

Swanage 

Hard to find ...

I picked out A Voyage to Arcturus from a shelf of grizzled Everymans - 

The barefoot young bookseller was half hidden by his foxed spine sunned volumes - 

That one's hide to find he said - 

27 August 2021

West Street 

Wareham 

Dorset

Watching Ambulance on BBC1 ...

We hear the voices on the phone - 

The shallow breaths - 

We see the interiors of small rooms - 

The poignant sofas - 

The phones ring - 

The words you hear wrench your heart  -

Thursday 26 September 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

We would always have our journey to the east ...

When I heard the news I remembered our journey to Cappadocia -

We'd sipped coffee that first morning - 

Seen the sun rising in the ancient sky - 

Held the tiny cups to our lips -

Before us was the bright road across the mountains - 

We would see almond trees in blossom -

Pass from caravanserai to caravanserai - 

We would always have our journey to the east - 

25 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Plain of Jars ...

I put down my book - 

I mow the lawn as though the mower was a B52 - 

I'm like a jaded pilot, high above the Plain of Jars - 

Yet the moles still delve beneath the green - 

24 August 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Charborough Park ...

Beyond the gates were quiet lawns - 

Noble trees, gracious statuary - 

We stood before the Lodge - 

I heard sad waves break upon the walls of the house - 

The sound of weeping in marble halls - 

The rattle of chains across a coral strand - 

23 August 2021

Charborough Park

Dorset 

The Dodge ...

When I saw the Dodge, I hung back from the spooky chrome - 

I remembered reading From a Buick 8 - 

Any moment there might be a lightquake - 

I would catch a glimpse of terrifying things - 

I would hear Sandy Dearborn's words - 

There are Buicks everywhere - 

21 August 2021

Corfe Castle

Dorset 

Blow torching the bitten peach ...

We heard a wind howling - 

The tail fins of flying bombs were bathed in blue light - 

This was a temple filled with strangeness -

There were white birds -

An end of times sky - 

19 August 2021

Tate Britain 

London 

The lamenting of the hares ...

The hares raise their anguished heads to the killing sky - 

They weep in a nameless desert - 

A pelican spreads its wings - 

I hear the lamenting of the hares in the marble room -

My skin is caked with sand - 

My eyes fill with their tears - 

Paula Rego Exhibition 

Tate Britain 

London

19 August 2021

I heard each heart stop ...

I saw the small hearts painted on the wall - 

We'd crossed the river - 

I heard each heart stop - 

I'd forgotten how many hearts there were -

Thursday 19 August 2021

London 

Everything is becoming Science Fiction ...

This part of the garden was a Ballardian jungle - 

I had a new name whilst I was here - 

Nearby iguanas yawned - 

Jewelled birds flew across a tropic sky - 

I recalled the prophet's words - 

Everything is becoming Science Fiction - 

Wednesday 18 August 2021

The Walled Garden 

Moreton 

Dorset 

Wine from a fragrant skin ...

I'm reading The King Must Die -

I had a longing for ancient sunlight -

Wine from a fragrant skin - 

17 August 2019

The Okd School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Greengages in a bowl ...

There are greengages in the bowl from Venice -

A gift from two trees in the garden above the sea - 

A memory of a twilight sky - 

August 15 2021

Swanage 

Dorset 

The apples shall fall from the tree ...

There are new apples on the tree -

I see my grandsons beneath its gentle branches - 

They breathed this air I breath in the garden - 

They walked on this sunlit lawn - 

I shall run with them until I am caught by shadows - 

Then the apples shall fall from the tree - 

17 August 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Dancing to Dakota ...

I danced to Dakota -

I looked at the evening sky - 

The kindly house was filled with books -

The river ran across the lane - 

I heard the voices of those who shared my dreams - 

I saw the moon - 

I remembered driving at night - 

The blue car's heartbeat - 

I danced to the words - 

Make me feel like the one -

14 August 2021

Upper Charminster

Dorset

There will be dragons ...

There are two cutlasses on the sofa - 

Our pirates' weapons Wallace says -

We plan a voyage to a far off sea - 

Wallace picks up a cutlass - 

There will be dragons he says -

13 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Dino golf ...

Wallace and Paul played dino golf at The Santa Fe - 

Saurians roared - 

Scaly tails lashed - 

Wallace got a hole in one - 

Nearby, pirates scowled - 

Hooks were flourished at dads wheeling buggies -

The Punch and Judy Man unleashed the Crocodile - 

Yachts were anchored in the bay - 

Invisible bandsmen made their way to the Bandstand - 

12 August 2021 

Swanage 

Dorset 

Paul wore his Brazilian shirt ...

Paul wore his Brazilian shirt - 

He took the music of the barrio to Studland - 

His skin remembered a tropic sun - 

His heart the promise of a fervent sky -

11 August 2021

Knoll Beach 

Studland 

Dorset 

Strange music ...

I'm looking at a drawing by Jean Cocteau - 

I see Paul and Elisabeth - 

Their wilderness of a bedroom -

Their beauty like strange music - 

10 August 2021

The Bear 

Wareham 

Dorset 

Altered Carbon ...

I'm watching Altered Carbon -

I'm a sucker for a hyperreal Sci Fi horrorshow - 

A revenge tragedy in a glitzy dystopia - 

9 August 2021 

The Old School House 

East Stoke

Dorset

He wore his years like a fine coat ...

Ken put down his glass - 

He wore his years like a fine coat -

We'd shared olives in Cappadocia - 

Stood before the sufi's tomb -

I remembered the shooting stars above the maquis -

The stories about Africa - 

The taste of salt was on our lips - 

The yacht still sailed on the wine dark sea - 

I heard the call for prayer whilst we talked - 

A wind smelling of orange blossoms stirred his hair - 

8 August 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset

Netflix casts its spell ...

I'm watching Wish Dragon with Wallace -

He forgets about Captain Hook swashbuckling in the kitchen -

The crocodile ticking on the lawn- 

Netflix casts its spell - 

7 August 2021

The Old School 

East Stoke 

Do5

Before the dragons come ...

Wallace raised his cutlass - 

The galleon was moored to the apple tree - 

A crocodile hid amongst the box tombs - 

Find the gold Wallace roared - 

Before the dragons come ! 

6 August 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

A Tray of Jewelled Birds ...

Reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez is like  holding a tray of jewelled birds - 

Dreams ask to live in my house - 

They tell me their names - 

Eva Is Inside Her Cat -

The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow - 

Light is like water -

5 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The dragons of Scarborough ...

We tell stories about the dragons of Scarborough - 

How they live in the broken castle - 

Fly above the rooftops of the salt rimed town - 

They seek golden crowns in The Vaults - 

Speak to night walkers with their subtle tongues - 

4 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

In one hour's time ...

I put down A Happy Death - 

I had no need for dark clothes - 

In one hour's time I would be made young again - 

3 August 2021

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

Whenever I read Camus ...

Whenever I read Camus, I think of Annick - 

Of smoking Gitanes -

Driving the blue car - 

Being wreathed in smoke - 

2 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset 

Listening to The Blue Nile ...

I'm listening to The Blue Nile -

My heart is full - 

Paul Buchanan's singing - 

Rain falls - 

I count the long days - 

The heartache and desire -

Paul sings - 

Only love is alive - 

1 August 2021

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset