Eating an almond bake ...

I ate an almond bake in Havant Costas - 

We would be staying overnight in the small house - 

My mum needed to go to the doctor - 

My dad was a bundle of sticks in his armchair - 

Nat King Cole sang they tried to tell us we're too young -

I would reckon the time now by each song Nat sang - 

10.57

Sunday 7 January 2018

Havant Costas 

Going to Java ...

After we'd rolled up our banner, we went to Java - 

We'd worked the pavements, gathering a hundred signatures for the petition - 

Lee had charmed oldsters with his gentle smile - 

Dads pushing buggies had growled the cuts must stop - 

A visitor from Wales said so you're not all blue -

The comrade from Worth Matravers sang the first verse of the Internationale - 

Once more, I felt part of a movement - 

I was doing something - 

I remembered the shining shirt cuffs of Richard Drax, Michael Tomlinson's pink chin - 

Grizzled men took down the Christmas lights - 

It got colder - 

Icy waves broke upon the town beach - 

Inside Java I sipped a cappuccino worthy of Old Street - 

I forgot, for a while, the lounge of memory - 

12.30

Saturday 6 January 2018

Java Independent Coffee House

Swanage

Dorset

 

Spring tide ...

The pristine foam washed away our footprints - 

Dunlins skittered across the sand - 

Dogs plunged into the shining waves - 

Shells were like timeworn coins - 

Leafless trees overlooked the narrow shore - 

Our shadows went before us - 

The spring tide had taken us by surprise - 

11.30

Friday 5 January 2018

Studland

Dorset 

A New Year's Cut ...

I'll have a New Year's cut I said - 

Paul laughed his rasping laugh -

Not a summer cut then he said - 

He picked up his razor sharp scissors -

I sat in the chair - 

How's things Paul asked - 

I told him about my dad - 

The blades sang as I spoke - 

Paul replied with a story of his own - 

It had the same ending as mine would surely have - 

I saw the hospital corridor, the faces round the bed - 

We were looking out the window Paul said - 

It was a beautiful day - 

That's when it happened - 

When we were looking at the sky - 

11.58

Thursday 4 January 2018

Paul's 

Wareham

Dorset

A shadow passed over peaty water ...

It's like Carswell and the runes Anne said - 

The sudden wind stirred the pine trees - 

The sky darkened -

Icy rain stung our faces - 

The knotted branches of oak trees creaked above our heads - 

The familiar path led us to a strange country - 

A shadow passed over peaty water -

11.58

Wednesday 3 January 2018

Arne

Dorset 

Silent figures climbed the stairs ...

I'm back, like Pushkin, with my friends - 

I gaze at their familiar spines - 

I remember the wide river, the northern sky - 

Snow was falling upon mile wide fields - 

Long years filled the lounge of memory - 

Silent figures climbed the stairs - 

20.07

Tuesday 2 January 2018

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

I heard the whisper of subtle wings ...

The Simple Men played after midnight -

We'd counted the homeless in the windswept precincts - 

We'd glimpsed the dark sea and the white moon -

We'd talked about Lorca in The Bodrum - 

Now we danced to a cover of All Right Now - 

Lou smiled her flinty smile - 

I felt the New Year brush against my face - 

I heard the whisper of its subtle wings - 

00.30

Monday 1 January 2018

The Golden Eagle

Southsea