Forgetting my name

I looked up at summer greenery -

Carried downstream by cool hands -

Held by the shining river - 

Forgetting my name - 

Holme Bridge

Dorset 

July 2024

Helter-skelter

Touching the festival sky - 

At nightfall, a sorcerer's tower - 

Tempting boys to become princes of the air - 

Bestival 

Lulworth 

July 2924

Losing my years

The gaudy horses flew past - 

Their riders clasped burnished manes - 

I smelled electricity - 

I thought of Mr Dark -

Being invited to ride - 

Losing my years - 

Bestival 

July 2024

The caravan

After rigatoni and chorizo, a chilled Cornish Tribute - 

The festival all around us -

 

Above one door of the caravan, the sacred heart of Jesus - 

Outside, Grace Slick singing feed your head -

Bestival 

July 2024

After the election

We toasted Lloyd with joyous reds -

Huzzaed his fiery words - 

 

I remembered the snapping letter boxes, gnarly Daily Mail pensioners -

The Tory councillor at the count, seedy in his blazer - 

Below us, there was a paying bar -

I longed for better, kinder, times - 

Weymouth 

July 2024

How many second thoughts

I'm reading Chekov under the apple tree - 

Those moments of longing - 

Those summer nights -

I think of my own life - 

How many stories like his -

How many second thoughts -

The Old School House

East Stoke

July 2024

Reaching past all hurt

Giovanna furled her Palestinian umbrella -

She looked out, over the comrades -

Her gaze reaching past all hurt -

Tolpuddle Festival 

July 2024

Snaring words and gin

I'm wearing my Phillip Larkin sunglasses - 

I think of the poet -

On holiday with Monica -

Snaring words and gin - 

East Stoke

Dorset 

July 2024

Rain fell on the festival

Rain fell on the festival - 

Comrades shivered in cagoules -

I sheltered inside the Martyrs Marquee -

Incendiary leaflets were beds of blazing coals - 

Tolpuddle Festival 

July 2024

How can you keep silent ?

He spoke like a prophet - 

Each word true, entering our hearts - 

The story walks with me -

Look, it tells me -

Can you not see ?

How can you keep silent ?

Tolpuddle 

July 2024

So far from where they were boys

When we marched I felt their heartache -

Heard the voices of their dear ones - 

These young men - 

So far from where they were boys -

Tolpuddle

July 2024

A soft rain fell

A soft rain fell while we were swimming - 

Our clothes left on the white shore -

Looking up at the gentle sky -

All sadness washed away -

Lulworth Cove

Dorset 

July 2024

First afternoon of the Festival

The first flags - 

The first gnarly comrades -

A girl with her keffiyeh - 

Hammet in his green bed - 

Tolpuddle

July 2024

Seeing menemen on the menu

Seeing menemen on the menu -

Remembering the tea garden with its dark tree - 

Chai in glasses shaped like teardrops -

Armans

Salisbury 

July 2024

Reading Star of the Sea

I'm reading Star of the Sea - 

I hear keening from steerage - 

See a spoiled priest on the boreen -

I follow sly footsteps to the Hanging Quarter - 

Carry my wounds across an ocean - 

Swallow the bitter fruit of stony fields - 

July 2024

My faux panama

Still zinging from the waves, we went to Joe's -

An exquisite Amazon called out come here Jago! - 

I gazed at my faux panama - 

Joe's

South Beach

Studland 

July 2024

My ten years again

We rode the top deck, whooping like cowboys -

All  I needed were my cap guns - 

My crew cut -

My ten years again -

Swanage

Dorset

July 2024

Walking on the high hill

We walked on the high hill, past barrows and wind sculpted trees - 

Heard sky larks, were beguiled by the beauty of wild flowers - 

Followed the straight path to the sea - 

Swimming, we saw where we had walked - 

The clouds -

The smooth green bones of the land - 

Nine Barrows Down

Dorset 

July 2024

The exhibition

It was as though I were lost in dreaming -

Bathed in strange light - 

Hearing the keening saxophone -

The jazz man spellbound in his gleaming suit -

The Natashas in the lounge of gangsters - 

The Aurora on the Neva -

The storm coming from the melting sky - 

Those mad flowers twisted by the wind - 

Durlston Castle 

Swanage 

July 2024

The fountain

The fountain brimmed with light - 

Pearls falling from basin to basin - 

The memory of a fragrant garden - 

When I thought I was in paradise - 

The Walled Garden

Moreton

July 2024

The Royal Hotel

Windows facing the sea - 

A sad reef of brick and stone - 

Louche ghosts pass from bedroom to bedroom - 

Sunlight falls on a clouded mirror -

Weymouth

July 2024

In the Dry Dock

I sipped a flat white in the Dry Dock -

Syrians played backgammon - 

A bearded sage counselled an anguished youth -

I heard Rai music, low murmured voices - 

I felt the heartache of exile - 

The chill of different air - 

The Dry Dock

Weymouth 

July 2024

The Peace Garden

On my way to The Nothe Tavern, I found a garden -

I stayed there a while, forgetting the world -

My heart open -

Filled with silence -

Weymouth

July 2024 

Fists or knives

I'm in the bar of The Rex - 

I've ordered a chilled Jurassic - 

I'm waiting to hear Tom Hardy whisper fists or knives - 

The Rex

Wareham

A red wave

After penalties, we bathed in Lloyd's smile -

The youth were beguiled - 

It's a red wave Alice said - 

Swanage

2024

Yavash, yavash

I'll listen to an oudh while scissors dance through my hair -

Remember the words - 

Yavash, yavash - 

Weymouth

July 2024

Lloyd is elected

Still not believing -

Surely a dream - 

Our laughter -

The sleepless night forgotten -

Salt Pig Too

Swanage 

July 2024

Waiting for the numbers

Sinking a loosener -

Unpinning my rosette -

Waiting for the numbers - 

July 2024

The evening before the election

The evening before the election -

Gentle light falling on the garden - 

New apples like promises on the tree -

The Old School House

East Stoke

July 2024

After canvassing

I take with me those mean hallways -

That sign saying dogs running free -

Those glimpses of pinched lives -

Swanage

July 2024

Haunted stone

I'm reading Don't Look Now -

Each page icy with growing dread - 

I've been lost in that labyrinth -

Seen the moon glimmer above a dark palazzo -

I remember the shadows in my room - 

The water lapping against haunted stone -

June 2024