Walking in Arne ...

I watched the clouds reflected in the water - 

A yawl sailed past reed beds towards Shipstal Point - 

Earlier I'd seen Californian poppies - 

The long years marked a fallen tree - 

We lay upon the cool white sand - 

Walking back through the bracken we saw a deer - 

I carry with me the memory of her beautiful silence - 

I can still feel the heartbreaking innocence of her gaze - 

13.50

Saturday 25 August 2018

Arne 

Dorset 

The kite surfers ...

The kite surfers were carried aloft by their taut sails - 

They skimmed the bright waves - 

Spray marked the dizzying passage of their swift boards - 

They were like lean young gods, immortal for an hour - 

13.39

Friday 24 August 2018

Billy Winters 

Portland 

Femme nue couchee et jouer ...

I see a woman playing a flute in a midnight garden - 

Another woman listens, eyes closed, to the languorous music - 

She stretches out, half dreaming - 

Moonlight falls on their long elegant bodies - 

Dark greenery hides the garden from the world - 

The music is cast like a silken net - 

Clouds fill the pagan sky - 

12.30

Thursday 23 August 2018

The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 - Love, Fame, Tragedy 

Tate Modern 

Walking to Arish Mell ...

Two swallows flew before us on Bindon Hill -

Penelope and I followed the white path to Arish Mell - 

We saw a yacht with red sails -  

Chalk cliffs rose sheer from the calm sea - 

Earlier, we'd seen two horses, grazing the high hilltop - 

We ate ripe blackberries - 

We gazed down at the empty beach - 

Waves broke upon the white stones - 

We remembered walking the fells, the swift rain against our faces -

We were walkers - 

Our feet knew the shape of the land - 

12.00

Wednesday 22 August 2018

Bindon Hill

Arish Mell

Dorset 

Paul cuts my hair ...

Paul held high the shining scissors - 

Who cut your hair last he asked - 

Was it a woman ? - 

I can tell - 

Barbers have secrets, I thought - 

They can read haircuts like conductors read a score - 

Paul laughed his rasping laugh - 

Anyway he said - 

How are you dear boy ? -

14.20

Tuesday 21 August 2018

Paul's

Wareham 

Out of the shadows ...

I gazed at the Lady with Lizards - 

I was beguiled by her cool beauty, the mocking half smile about to part her lips -

Nearby was a self portrait of the artist - 

He looked like a lean condottiere - 

Each of his paintings held my gaze - 

The orchard with dark drowsy trees - 

The old men playing cards -

The soldiers frozen with terror in the Judaean hills - 

When I saw the painting called Death of a Peasant, my heart was wrung anew -

I was once more in the room with pale yellow walls - 

I touched my mother's forehead - 

I stroked her hair - 

Her cold head lay on the final pillow - 

12.02

Monday 20 August 2018

Henry Lamb: Out if the Shadows 

Exhibition

Salisbury Museum 

The passing of the carvers ...

Only shards of golden wood marked the passing of the carvers - 

They left last night - 

I would have liked to have seen them leave - 

The dreadlocked bravos with their stilled chainsaws - 

The gleam of silver on a tattooed arm - 

The tipsy farewells to the gentle town - 

The bravos singing one last song - 

Then driving away -  

Each one following his own bright star - 

09.30

Sunday 19 August 2018

Wareham 

Dorset