A famished pasha ...

I carefully slid the dollop of Marmite into my cup - 

I then added boiling water, so as to make a Marmite bouillon - 

This, I thought, would be the ideal reviver after norovirus - 

Perhaps, later, I might eat a small bowl of pasta - 

I'd not eaten for four days - 

I'd feast like a famished pasha - 

I'd think of the years when my parents were John and Alice - 

The days to come were not to be thought of - 

Their heads grazed the sky - 

Their love filled the world - 

15.00

Thursday 12 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke 

Dorset 

The haven of the quiet bedroom ...

Anne's stayed all day in the haven of the quiet bedroom - 

Last night, she, too, was sick - 

The bedroom window frames the gentle sky - 

Downstairs, I cook dinner for my mum and dad - 

I've lived with bombs falling says my dad -

My mum's sleeping on the settee, murmuring something in her dreams - 

Perhaps once more she's dancing with the handsome Captain - 

The beloved teacher is still holding her hand - 

16.00

Tuesday 10 January 2017

Staunton Road

Havant

Hampshire 

Norovirus ...

There was something going round the Day Centre Jane had said - 

I held up the bowl for my mum - 

Don't bully me she said - 

She was sick, repeatedly, all afternoon and evening - 

Anne washed up the bowls, comforted her, made sure she wasn't sick all over the settee - 

There's nothing wrong with Pegs my dad said - 

She hasn't been sick - I've lived with with her for sixty years - I know my wife -

22.30

Sunday 8 January 2017

Staunton Road

Havant 

Hampshire 

Tarnished jewels ...

We searched Wilkos for soda crystals - 

The kitchen sink was blocked -

It wasn't blocked this morning my dad had said - 

You must have blocked it - 

We'd got up at five to be there before breakfast - 

We'd driven through fog on the M27 - 

The tail lights of the cars in front were like tarnished jewels - 

It was you or Anne my dad said - you blocked it -

14.30

Sunday 8 January 2017

Wilkos

Havant

A Horse's Neck after Maupassant ...

After reading Monsieur Parent I needed a Horse's Neck - 

I put down the foxed green Penguin Classic - 

I'd bought it in The Crooked Book - 

Nick Cave was singing a murder ballad - 

Bravos had slouched past the cafe - 

I poured out the brandy - 

I'd need four measures I thought - 

23.30

Wednesday 4 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

Walking the Rodwell Trail ...

We followed the route of the old railway, above the Victorian streets -

Abandoned stations were left with just their names - 

We heard a chaffinch calling amongst leafless trees - 

Brick lined tunnels were like sad temples - 

Lean cyclists raced past us - 

Gentle dog walkers dawdled homewards - 

Breakwaters enclosed the wide harbour - 

The waves remembered grey ships filled with young men - 

Gulls flew above the dark Island - 

I shared a scone with Penelope, looking out at the high beach - 

There was a quotation from John Fowles written above the window -  

It is above all an elemental place, made of sea, shingle and sky - 

12.30

Friday 6 January 2017

Weymouth

Portland 

Dorset 

Writing my young name ...

It was time this morning for A Fisherman's Friend -

The red wounded beast was cocooned in ice - 

I could have been in Volgodonsk, driving a Zhiguli for the Mafiya -  

The lawns were white with frost - 

The apple tree cast a frozen shadow - 

The pale blue sky was cloudless -  a white jet flew towards the sun - 

I sucked the potent lozenge - 

I remembered winters when the snow had fallen - 

I'd sat in the small lounge, my face pressed up against the window, watching silence fall upon the world - 

I'd breathed upon the glass, and written my young name there - 

09.00

Thursday 5 January 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset