Those unblinking eyes

The Eastern European brings me a flat white -

He looks like a zek -

That shaven head -

Those unblinking eyes -

Swanage 

February 2026

The soft wings of prayers

On the high hill above the sea -

The wind shaken Chapel -

Two doors in the dark stone - 

The soft wings of prayers -

Sheep grazing on the bright wet grass -

A tree with white blossoms in a garden -

Abbotsbury 

February 2026

Reading For Whom the Bell Tolls

The trail through the pines -

The snow falling almost in June -

 Anselmo saying I am against the killing of all men -

The flails and sickles in the town square -

Roberto holding Maria's hand -

How he says thy hand is enough -

The fascist planes in the sky -

Three score years and ten becoming two days -

Putting the book down -

My heart filled with sorrow, then with love -

February 2026

A Half English

A Half English in Beavers -

No sign of the land girl with her corduroy trousers -

Gentle pensioners -

Soft rain falling on Institute Road -

Swanage 

February 2026

Homeless man

Your wild beard -

Your mad hair -

The bottle of vodka at your lips -

The customers in Greggs hearing you cry out -

Your voice -

Like a wound -

I can still hear it -

Anguished and terrible -

Salisbury 

February 2026

Nigel's back

Nigel's back -

Laura caught a glimpse of his dreadlocks -

I've missed his stories -

Dwarf Lords in Hackney -

The Battle of the Beanfield -

Ian Drury -

Flying Saucers -

Taking a donkey through Customs -

Drinking Breton cider - 

Dazzling me with names -

Memories of gypsies -

The secrets of Autumn fields -

Swanage 

February 2026

Going live

Going live -

Studio air zinging with radio magic -

My voice a silken net -

February 2926

A golden key

Twelve years old -

Finding a golden key -

Holding your future life in your young hands -

February 2026

Both of us grandfathers

Hearing Jay's voice -

As though his hair was still a splendid mane -

As though he were wearing stripy trousers -

Red Converses -

All those years still to be lived - 

Those long summers -

Throwing darts -

Harveys in the sunlit bar -

The house on Albion Hill -

Russell lighting up a Marlboro -

The foxed Master and Margarita -

The waves breaking on the stones -

Morrison singing She lives on Love Street -

The last notes of The Firebird -

All this, in those first words, ringing Jay -

Both of us grandfathers -

*

Watching Werner Herzog's Nosferatu

The gypsies with their dark Aztec faces - 

Their silences -

The lanterns of the coach glimmering in the darkness -

The wine in a crystal glass -

Bruno Ganz writing to his darling -

That terrible goblin face, floating above the bed -

February 2026

Watching Blaze

I think I'll watch Blaze -

I need to see flying saucers -

Hear of terrifying conspiracies -

Abductions -

Hybrids -

Lost time -

Be above top secret -

 See presidents die -

February 2026

Late afternoon in Salisbury

Jake singing quietly - 

Immersed in Mobilo -

Looking up with his gentle smile -

Salisbury 

February 2026

Blue notes

Litening to blue notes, you held my hand  -

I love seeing you I said -

You held my hand more tightly -

I thought I want to tell you everything -

There were more blue notes - 

More moments of you - 

Your smile -

The warmth of your hand -

Swanage 

February 2026

Longing for sleep

Longing for sleep - 

Those deep pools - 

Those still shores.-

February 2026

Being made of air

Beguiled by tattered shreds of a poster -

Tongues of paper hanging from a wall -

By the words a day of trance -

I imagined myself dancing -

Being made of air -

Bournemouth 

February 2026

Each silent moment

A yacht on the still sea -

The reflection of the mast on the water -

The heaped flints on the sand -

Each silent moment a pearl of memory -

South Beach

Studland 

February 2026

Joyous birds

Wearing my Charborough tweed -

A lobster sashshaying to the beat of the XR drums -

Singing our way through the rainy streets -

Past Pret a Manger and Wetherspoons -

Holding up kindly flags -

Laughing with the comrades -

Passionate words like joyous birds -

Bournemouth 

February 2026

Reading The Line of Beauty

I'm reading The Line of Beauty -

I remember the house in Highgate -

The beautiful manners of my hosts -

The boy with the Eton tie -

February 2026

Thinking of Josh

I remember you drinking with the comrades -

The fire in your voice -

How you longed for a different world -

Even then, perhaps, the devils were in your blood -

Taking you to this white bed -

Your young son lying next to you -

I've tasted this air -

It comes from beyond the edge of the world -

My eyes fill with tears -

February 2026

The smoke in your hennaed hair

Driving the rakish Dacia through the New Forest - 

Remembering a wild summer -

The smoke in your hennaed hair -

New Forest 

February 2026

Watching Hamnet

Watching the frightened boy walking towards the dark gateway - 

Trying his best to be brave -

Thinking of Jake, or Wallace -

My eyes filling with tears -

The Rex

Wareham 

January 2026 

Outside Java

We had coffee outside Java -

My heart raced when I saw you walk towards us -

I had to hide how glad I was to see you -

I thought of you resting your head on my shoulder -

Your tears -

How you had come into my life -

Java

Swanage 

February 2026

A rainbow above the dunes

The waves breaking upon the chill sand -

Riders passing on slow horses -

Girls with their boys outside the beach sauna -

Their hearts leaping in their beautiful bodies -

A rainbow above the dunes -

Middle Beach 

Studland 

February 2026