You were also in the photographs

You were also in the photographs - 

One of my beloved voices - 

Now I must search for your face - 

Listen for your voice before I lose it in the air -

October 31 2026 

Lighting the third fire of November

Lighting the third fire of November -

Flames from kindling lapping fragrant bones of pine - 

Picking up Over Sea, Under Stone -

Going back to the joy of reading Puffins -

Safe in the kindly house - 

A beloved voice calling me to tea - 

The Old School House 

East Stoke

October 30 2026 

When I'm with you

When I'm with you, I have a secret life -

I can't stop thinking about you -

How I long to see you -

For there to be happiness for just one hour - 

October 29 2026

Watching Minotaur

Sometimes I had to look away -

The anguish of the faithless wife -

Z markings on parked cars -

The lies on posters -

The husband's murdering hands -

The two sleazy detectives -

Orders from higher up -

Fuck me why we bother -

The Rex

Wareham 

October 28 2026

When every day had been summer

Dale greeted me wearing a Halloween themed dry robe -

The wind shook his caravan -

He smiled his warm vague smile -

He'd been smoking weed listening to the rain -

Remembering when he'd been a lost boy -

When every day had been summer -

Swanage

October 27 2026

When every day had been summer - 

A half term silence in the hall

Waiting for the Fareshare van -

For Glynis with her big hair -

Les with his wrinkled brow -


The volunteers with their lanyards -

Rain sweeping over the playground -

A half term silence in the hall -


St Mark's Primary School 

Swanage

October 26 2026

Reading The Flight from the Enchanter

I'm in a dark beautiful world -

Drawn to the enchanter's house -


Beguiled by the spell cast by his voice -

The strangeness of his eyes -

October 25 2026 

Reading The Wendigo

The wind shakes the pines -

The last leaves from the apple tree whirl past me on the darkening air -

Rain will soon fall from the swollen sky -

Inside the house, the lights flicker -

I'm reading The Wendigo -

I pour whisky into my glass -


The Old School House
East Stoke

October 24 2026 

His spite like thorns on his tongue

WhatsApp was like a Wasp sting -

The touch of some scuttling insect -

A gnat flying into my mouth -

I remembered the man -

His know it all voice -

His toadying -

His spite like thorns on his tongue -


October 23 2026

Waiting for the book group

Waiting for the book group to arrive -

The house arranged like a stage set -

Apple logs heaped up artfully in the grate -

A hummus dip in a Cretan bowl -

An uncorked bottle of red -


The Old School House 

East Stoke 

October 22 2026 

A poet with dangerous hair

My heart racing -

It's getting dark - 

I'll hear a poet who has dangerous hair -

Newton Manor Hall

Swanage 

October 21 2026 

Chilled Carling and Star Trek

Chilled Carling whilst I watch Star Trek on Freeview - 

Some lost channel -

Taking me back to the hall of residence -

All of us hoping to see some alien beauty -

Long legged Uhuru at her console -

Or a blonde yeoman with wonderful hair -


October 20 2026

My dad raising his glass

I remember my dad watching Roads to Freedom Roads on the glowing Ferguson - 

Daniel stalking a youth around a bar football table -

Mathieu beguiled by Ivich -

 

Those last moments in the tower -.

My dad raising his glass -

Mathieu finding freedom - 

Purbeck Sounds Studio

Swanage

October 19 2026 

The path to Swyre Head

I'd forgotten how beautiful it was - 

The white trees behind the drystone wall - 

The deep valley with the house and the lake -

The path under the ancient sky - 

The barrow, high above the sea -

Swyre Head

October 18 2026 

A jigsaw wizard

Finding a superhero's eye -

Shaping a dinosaur's tail -

Jake's a jigsaw wizard - 

Macklin Road 

Salisbury

October 17 2026 

The beauty and strangeness of clouds

The beauty and strangeness of clouds -

The rainbow, dissolving into air -

The deep blueness of sky and sea -

Knoll Beach

Studland

October 16 2026 

Deer in a golden field

Walking into twilight -

Leaves falling -

Deer in a golden field - 

Arne

October 15 2026

The CEO

A charming wordsmith -

Using his beguiling smile -

Each of his sentences a silken net -

The Mowlem 

Swanage

October 14 2026

Breathless from the waves

I said I would never have done this without you - 

Swimming in the rain -

An October sky - 

A sea fret hiding the chalk hill - 

Watching you get dressed -

Deftly hiding your lovely body beneath the towel -

Coming into my life like this -

Breathless from the waves -

Swanage 

October 12 2026 

The wretched hours

Swimming with you -

Forgetting the dark reefs of the night -

The wretched hours - 

My dreams snatched away -

October 12 2026

A cruel hireling

Night -

Like a cruel hireling -

Waits by my door -

Old School House 

East Stoke

October 11 2026

Your gaze holding past and present

In one of your paintings, you sit like an empress upon a throne - 

Grave and watchful -

Wearing a crown - 

Your gaze holding past and present - 

Your heart the memory of wounds - 

The Lighthouse

Poole 

October 10 2026 

Jake draws his house

Jake drew his house -

He flourished his coloured pens -

I saw his world as he saw it -

There was nummy -

There was daddy -

There was Number 73 - 

Salisbury 

October 9 2026 

Meeting Betsan on the beach

Betsan saw us on the ribbed sand -

As always louche and elegant -

Greeting us with her marvellous gravelly voice -

Wearing a boiled wool jacket -

It was my mother's she said -

We were going for a swim under a  mackerel sky -

She smiled at us as we walked, slender and almost bare, into the waves -

South Beach

Studland 

October 8 2026 

Waiting for Sense and Sensibility

Chilled Jurassic in the auditorium -

Remembering the cathedral before evensong -

The quiet streets she knew -

Waiting for Sense and Sensibility -

The Rex

Wareham 

October 7 2026

Jazz by the sea

Jazz by the sea -

A pale moon in the night sky -

The Penthouse House Trio playing My Foolish Heart -

A tender saxophone whilst I wait for you - 

The Show Bar

The Mowlem 

Swanage 

October 6 2026

As warm as the sun

Forgetting the long hours of the night -

Swimming with you -

Later holding your hand-

You saying our hands are cold -

While your smile was as warm as the sun -

Swanage 

October 5 2026

The last apples

The last apples are on the tree -

I see my shadow -

Longer with each bright hour - 

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

October 4 2026 

Speechless ghosts

We climbed the high hill -

We passed dead trees, sculpted by the wind -


Below were the poignant bones of the village -

The ceilings of air in the shattered houses -


The school for invisible children -

A telephone box for speechless  ghosts -




Worbarrow Down

October 3 2026

Whilst he was on the swings his smile touched heaven

We'd waited for Jake amongst the nanas and young mums -

There were dads wearing sliders -


Anne scooped him up in her arms -

His class was called Robins -


In the park, Jake ate strawberries -

Whilst he was on the swings his smile touched heaven -



Salisbury 

September 2026 

It comes back to me

It comes back to me -

I remember -

Before you fell out of love with me -

When you were wild and naked -

I thought it would go on forever - 

October 1 2026