The possibility of hope ...

I savoured another spoonful of dhal soup -

The affable waiters brought out more subtle dishes - 

Cherry poured out a bumper of white - 

My comrades sat at two long tables - 

The small seaside town waited for the changing tide - 

I asked for a second Cobra - 

I remembered the hours spent telling, the pensioners greeted by smiling activists - 

I recalled Richard Drax, shooting his polished cuffs, the curtained windows of mean houses - 

At ten we heard the news we'd longed for - 

The possibility of hope was like wearing a golden crown - 

22.00 

Thursday 8 June 2017

The Masala

Swanage 

Dorset

The pale hero ...

I took a moment to gaze at the hero, laid out in his pale marble - 

The gentle town was a world away - 

I felt my cheek seared by the desert wind - 

Although I stood in the quiet chapel, I saw my shadow cast upon burning sand - 

16.01

Tuesday 6 June 2017

St Martin on the walls

Wareham

Dorset 

Let's have some Floyd ...

My friend Andy was in Glasgow Jay said - 

He went to the pub with his host - they both walked down the street drinking from cans of beer so they'd fit in - 

In the distance, Andy saw a building on some waste ground - it had a huge neon sign, all lit up, saying Beer Shop - 

Andy thought - that can't be the pub - but it was - 

Inside, there were walls of beer cans, from the floor to the ceiling - 

The landlord had a huge belly - but he was very knowledgeable about beer - he was a beer scholar - 

They talked about London ales - 

Then one of the regulars called out - let's have some Floyd - 

Andy thought they'd put on some Pink Floyd, Ummagumma perhaps - 

But in a cupboard, which the landlord opened, in a back room, there was an old TV and a VHS video recorder and a pile of video cassettes - 

He put in a cassette - and it was a Keith Floyd cooking special - 

There was the boozy chef of the 1970's - 

Everyone sat down to watch - 

It was a secret club - 

They all sat down to watch with Silkie Stout in their hands -

18.00

Thursday 1 June 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

Lost summers ...

Anne sang with the choir under the birch trees - 

She wore a green dress - 

Each pale tree cast a perfect shadow - 

Bees circled foxglove flowers - 

The lawns had just been mowed - 

The courtly gardener and his wife wore white - 

Close cut grass was fragrant with lost summers - 

15.00

Sunday 4 June 2017

The Red House

High Street

Sturminster Newton

Dorset

The Portillo jacket ...

Jay and I looked into the window of A F Joy's - 

Splendid blazers adorned the torsos of creepy mannequins - 

Cravats were knotted around unmoving necks - 

Jay told me he'd once bought some Black Watch tartan trews - 

The gentle town was silent - 

Inside the Rajpoot Tandoori, courtly waiters dreamed of Kerala skies - 

I admired the radiant Portillo jacket - 

You'd have to walk like him Jay said - 

17.30

Thursday 1 June 2017

Wareham

Dorset 

Canvassing in Bovington ...

The sign on the gate warned large dogs running loose - 

Lee stole noiselessly across the unkempt garden - 

He slid the leaflet through the stubborn letterbox -

We were out canvassing -

On another door, a sign said no preachers - 

A man spreading asphalt told me he'd not be voting - 

None of them listen he said - 

A woman with tattooed arms vaped in her driveway - 

A barrel chested grandad wished me well - 

Cherished Qashqais reflected the late afternoon sunlight - 

Pensioners sat in lounges before forgiving televisions - 

16.30

Friday 2 June 2017

Bovington

Dorset 

The Buxey Ashes ...

Jay's reading an essay about Thomas Gresham - 

Frm time to time, he glances up to watch the tennis - 

We're both wearing shorts  

Murray's playing Klizan - 

Earlier, Jay told me how he'd watched a cricket match on a sandbank in the Thames - 

I pictured the yachts moored around the temporary island, the ball sent spinning over the ridged sand - 

The winners of the Buxey Ashes celebrated with Buxey Ale - 

 The yachts sailed homewards up the wide river - 

The sea forts were like ancient spaceships fallen from the sky - 

16.31

Thursday 1 June 2017

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset