The spell of the blueness

After Java, we watched the gigs sweep across the bay -

We lay on the sand, still breathless from the waves - 

There was salt in my hair - 

Above us, the flawless sky - 

The beauty of the clouds - 

The spell of the blueness -

Swanage 

June 2024

The Emporium

The Emporium was a dimly lit cave of sad treasures - 

Mirrors from chill hallways -

Cobwebbed radiograms -

Anne bought a plate depicting a fish with golden scales - 

I found two 45s -

I hummed the carnival is over - 

Later I'd have a Stoli - 

Picture Dimitri, waiting on the stairs - 

The Emporium 

Swanage 

All my summers

Tangles of flowers hid worn names - 

I heard stories whispered in the air - 

 I counted my years - 

All my summers walked with me - 

Swanage 

June 2024

 

Canvassing

I climbed the stairs - 

Each letter box had snatched at my fingers - 

Lara Croft stood watch on the landing - 

Swanage 

June 2024

Beguiled by tweed

I was beguiled by tweed in Clobber -

I tried on jackets bespoke for deceased squireens - 

Placed a 1930's chancer's trilby on my head - 

I imagined leaping out of a roadster - 

Smoking an Egyptian cigarette - 

Later dancing to Begin the Beguine -

Clobber

Boscombe 

June 2024

WIll you have a story?

I walked barefoot in the evening garden - 

I carried in my head the giant's words - 

I felt the sorrow of his poet's soul - 

East Stoke 

June 2024

Lost futures

I saw the gentle socialist in his gallery -

He sat amidst seascapes and linocuts of wild eyed hares -

He stroked his beard -

Lost futures haunted us -

Swanage 

June 2024

Steampunk Dream

In my dream I wore a dangerous frock coat - 

I looked out for airships above the salty tangled streets -

Saw a kraken in the harbour -

Whitby Museum and Art Gallery 

June 2024

A flat white in Java

I had a flat white in Java -

Gazed at the matelot from HMS Invincible -

Felt the weight of the hurt in your heart - 

Java

Swanage 

June 2024

La Chimera

After watching La Chimera -

Haunted by the smiles of those beautiful ghosts - 

Reaching for a scarlet thread - 

Seeing a sunset ending the world -

Wareham

June 2024

All my gardens

I crossed the lawn to stand next to the astrolabe -

I still carried with me the silence of the Ridgeway -

I remembered all my gardens - 

The times when I had glimpsed Eden - 

That first time with Anne - 

The flower in her hair -

Avebury Manor

The Garden

June 2024

Silbury Hill

From our bedroom window, I saw the hill - 

That night, I dreamed of haunted skies - 

Flying saucers, marking sleeping fields - 

Witches dancing upon starlit grass - 

Beckhampton 

Avebury 

June 2024

Bede's sparrow

Above my head, the high roof -

A web of wood and shadow - 

I thought of Bede's sparrow - 

Its swift flight through the mead hall - 

Avebury 

June 2024

Adam and Eve

I glimpsed the two stones in a field of pale flowers -

I had heard their names -

Some nights they'd walk -

They would open their ancient eyes -

Avebury 

June 2024

Walking the Ridgeway

Cloud shadow on bare hills -

Walking the old path under the sky - 

Birdsong -

The wind singing in the grass - 

The Ridgeway 

June 2024

There'll be music

Will leaned back with his cider and lazy smile -

I saw two UFOs he said - 

Over there, above the hill -

Shining with light - 

These stones are clocks - 

They tell the seasons - 

Will's pale blue eyes saw the magic of the land - 

There'll be music he said - 

Avebury

June 2024

A new name

I tried on jackets in Clobber -

Slipped into tweed last worn in the 1940s -

Neill put on a homburg - 

Wore a shyster's crombie -

I picked up a fedora - 

I gave myself a new name -

Clobber

Boscombe 

June 2024

Time soon for Father Brown

Time soon for Father Brown -

Green roadsters -

Spooky ruins -

Splendid busty girls -

Mrs McCarthy's scones -

A confession before the gallows -

June 2024

The architect will never leave

I'm reading J G Ballard's Concrete Island -

The world shows its secret self - 

The architect will never leave - 

June 2024

A gentle Afghan cuts my hair

A gentle Afghan cuts my hair -

His eyes are wounded by memory - 

I see his face above mine in the mirror -

He sees the faces of his dear ones - 

Hears their voices -

Still breathes their air - 

Wareham 

June 2024

Breathing the air of the villas

I breathed the air of the villas above the bay -

I climbed their narrow stairs -

Glimpsed their secret gardens - 

They held their stories close -

Beautiful and distressed, shaken by salty winds -

Their doors opening onto silent halls -

Swanage

June 2024

Sweet wounds

The beautiful wings - 

Their sweet wounds - 

Like a sign of some joyous unexpected moment -

Being told love you - 

June 2024

Evening light

Evening light falling on the white hotels -

A glass of red in The Highlander -

The taste of the wine on my tongue when I cross the sands - 

South Cliff

Scarborough 

May 2024

His candidate's smile

Lloyd wears his crisp jacket -

I wear louche courdory -

Lloyd smiles his candidate's smile -

Swanage

June 2024

Her clear gaze

I'm reading about Kafka in Armans -

Imagining these five rivers are in the bloodlands - 

I remember sitting on a sofa with Alexandra -

A kitchen filled with bottles -

Her slim body -

Her clear gaze - 

We talked about Kafka -

Light from the house fell on the pool -

I loved gazing at her long legs - 

Her skin pearled with water after swimming -

Armans

Salisbury 

June 2024

David's muse

David gazes at his muse -

Holds her hand -

I remember her singing in Oslo -

Her beauty and her voice -

June 2024

Lizzie smiles her wicked smile

Lizzie smiled her wicked smile -

A blue scarf round her neck -

She stood before her paintings -

The birch trees, like slim pale girls -

The white flowers against a crimson curtain -

An ebbing tide, a fallow field - 

Rollington Barn

June 2024

That signature

I had shivered reading his terrifying pages -

Dreaded yet longed for Lucy's kiss -

Heard her call my name -

Then take me in her hungry arms - 

Whitby Museum 

June 2024

Leaving Number 53

A dinosaur roaring in the kitchen -

Footballing gods on the flat screen - 

The secret garden above the house -

My darlings' goodbyes - 

Number 53 Royal Avenue 

Scarborough 

June 2024