I saw the edge of the world ...

I saw the edge of the world -

It was as though I were still dreaming, naked in my bed - 

Waking, yet still dreaming - 

That strange sky - 

The garden below, waiting - 

The sun caught in the tree - 

27 August 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

The dionysian singer ...

I hear his voice in the dark wood -

The dionysian singer wears his beauty like a young god -

I count his wounds -

I see the desert under the white sky -

27 August 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

I, too, was Sal ...

I'm reading On The Road -

There's Hillbilly music on the Hudson's radio -

A shy Okie waits at the crossroads -

I think of my own Dean Moriarty -

My own Carlo Marx, my own Camille -

I've been Sal, too -

Driving through a forest to a hotel with a jukebox - 

Chasing my own dream -

Saying yes, yes, when are you going back - 

August 2022

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

I wore my Panama, Wallace his snappy trilby ...

I raced Hotwheels with Wallace - 

We spun the wheel to get sixes in the pirate game - 

We searched for dinosaurs in the summer greenery - 

We were blood brothers, both of us with wounds of honour - 

When I wore my panama, Wallace wore his snappy trilby - 

I loved him with all my heart - 

14 August 2022

Southampton Airport Parkway Station 

All new ...

When Jake sees the world he makes it new - 

These apples -

This sky -

My heart - 

All new - 

August 2022

East Stoke

Wild swimming ...

The clear river carried us downstream - 

Under the bridge there were deep pools -

Bright trees shaded the water -

The shallows were spangled with light - 

I remembered a golden moon - 

Running as swift as a hare - 

You running yet faster - 

Your mouth on mine - 

11 August 2022

Holmebridge 

Strange wonders ...

In this magical bookshop there were strange wonders -

I flinched before a stuffed raven's gaze -

A splendid ship of the line put out more flags -

A resurrection man leered at china dolls -

In the room of biography there was a parlour organ - 

Above the first editions, a tiger skin - 

4 August 2022

The Petersfield Bookshop 

The Physic Garden ...

I thought of you before the service - 

I breathed air scented by fennel and basil -

Slender trees cast delicate shadows on the lawn - 

I sat with my back to old stone -

I remembered you sleeping in the chair, next to my mother's bed - 

You watched her dreaming until she woke - 

4 August 2022

The Physic Garden 

Petersfield 

Mirror of heaven ...

I held Jake up to the young apples on the tree -

I felt the swiftness of his heart - 

His flawless skin - 

His blue eyes were the mirror of heaven -

August 2022

The garden

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

We left our names with our tangled clothes ...

Wind sculpted hazel cast deep shadows in the gywle -

The bay was a secret world - 

There were delicate clouds - 

The sun was low in the pale sky - 

A shining path reached out towards us - 

We swam, waiting for twilight -

The waves carried us out from the quiet shore -

We left our names with our tangled clothes -

1 August 2022

Worbarrow Bay

Tyneham 

Becoming part of the invisible world ...

An angel blew a trumpet above an opened door -

A slow river ran through an empty town - 

These moments haunted me -

Being in a dream -

Not waking - 

Becoming part of the invisible world -

July 2022

Tadcaster

Travelodge ...

There was a 24 hour Greggs next to the Travelodge -

Mazy sliproads snared SUVs - 

In my pristine cell, I dreamed of motorways - 

I remembered the two ancients in the Brigadoon forecourt -

The scent of diesel -

The oil stains like wounds on the glistening carriageway -

22 July 2022

Tadcaster Travelodge 

Reivers ...

Reivers once caroused in these quiet streets -

The Armstrongs, the Stapletons of Tynedale, the Jardines of Applegirth - 

Their steel bonnets ringed peel towers - 

Their brazen voices still echoed in these yards -

Their spurs still marked the stone -

20 July 2022

Alnwick 

Waiting for Alice ...

Roses half hid a lichened urn -

Fountains cooled the fragrant air -

Drowsy bees rested on warm petals -

Slender pollarded trees shaded formal paths -

I wore my white broad brimmed hat -

I walked as if any moment I might see Alice -

As if I, too, had gone through the looking glass -

As if I, too, were in a story -

20 July 2022

Alnwick Castle Gardens 

A bright coin in my hand ...

The path led to the empty shore - 

Waves broke upon the sand bar -

The wind blew through the marram grass - 

I walked barefoot upon the sand - 

Beyond the dunes was the world I had left -

I breathed the air of the sea road - 

There was a bright coin in my hand -

21 July 2022

Budle Bay

If I touched one of these bottles ...

My fingers would sink into a thick pelt of dust -

I'd hold the bottle up - 

A  breath of withered air would fall upon my lips - 

20 July 2022

The Olde Cross

Alnw5

A wizardly look ...

Glasses of dizzying red were set out on the table -

There was peppery chowder served in generous bowls -

Marvellous light fell through the warm salty air - 

There was Ouseburn Porter in my heavy glass -

I would remember this tipsy hour - 

Our laughter, the wizardly look of Adrian's beard -

July 20 2022

Seahouses 

Sturdy tweed ...

We pictured ourselves wearing sturdy tweed - 

There are sand martins flying over the wide river -

I cast my line - 

Neill and I sport Dundreary whiskers -

We take sips from our flasks - 

We are younger sons - 

I'm taking Holy Orders - 

Neill will be posted to India - 

A pike with an eye like a dull coin rules this bend in the river -

20 July 2022

The Hardy Store and Museum

Alnwick

Julia as Artemis ...

Julia wears her blue dress -

The day is ending -

Goldenight falls on the water -

Julia waits for the moon - 

20 July 2022

Budle Bay 

Stories would follow ...

Once fishermen had smoked tarry twists within these salty walls -

The would shake the tiles -

Stories would follow the dark ale - 

Selkies enveloped in nets -

A ring given to a boy by a mermaid - 

19 July 2022

The Ship

Low Newton

I saw their names ...

I saw their names, the boys taken from the garden -

Their bright bodies were flawless -

They wept shining tears - 

In the quiet church, I heard their voices - 

I saw the wire tangled round their necks -

He died, if it be death to give his life that all he loved might live

St Mary's Church

Holy Island 

The wind carried music ...

The churchyard was a place for gentle melancholy - 

The wind carried music -

Dowland's Teares -

A delicate pavan - 

Birds sang softly in the dark tree -

18 July 2022

The Churchyard 

St Mary's Church

Holy Island 

Cobwebs of stone ...

Slender arches were cobwebs of stone -

The nave was open to the sky -

Here, Eadfrith had shaped angels' wings by tallow light -

Saints had glimpsed heaven - 

The wind had been tamed -

Gentle otters had warmed Cuthbert's sea chilled shins with their fur -

The fragrant body had been carried over the winter fields - 

18 July 2022

Lindisfarne Priory 

Tracing the labyrinth ..

I traced the labyrinth cut in the stone -

The field of bracken touched the edge of the world -

I felt the lichen with my fingertips -

The eye in the centre - 

Light fell on the silent land - 

Dark birds flew across the sky - 

19 July 2022

Near Wooler