Peterloo ...

These fawning reptiles - 

This voluptuary, his spite coiled like a sting upon his tongue - 

These magistrates hissing in their cruel courts - 

These mill owners, with their dark coats and relentless machines - 

These curved slicing blades -

This anguish - 

I see it now, as I did in an England of steam and coal - 

The same reptiles - 

The same oily obedience to monsters - 

The same outrageous suffering, still belittled - 

Yet now with I phones - 

Talking heads - 

Sleek jowls before clever screens - 

New lies - 

Old wickedness - 

12 December 2018

The Rex

Wareham 

Dorset 

Old names over coffee cake ...

Over coffee cake with Len and Marylyn, all the old names came back to me - 

Once so important, so much part of who I was - 

I heard their voices - 

I walked, once more, across the wild playground - 

I remembered the sting of Ofsted - 

The bad magic of numbers -

But, above all, the sense of a common purpose - 

Of being more than one person - 

Of sharing a noble aim with others - 

No matter how imperfectly achieved - 

11.00

Wednesday 12 December 2018

The Granary

Wareham

Dorset 

Paul held up his scissors ...

Paul held up his scissors - 

The blades gleamed like strange beaks - 

If Gravesend is 1 out of 10 he said Middlesborough is minus 10 - 

We never got out of the car - 

The blades of Paul's scissors whirled through my hair - 

I thought of the wind straight from Russia - 

Gulls clustering above a stained coastline -

Rain falling on hollowed out streets - 

The kingdom of the edgelands - 

Cigarette smoke filling colourless rooms - 

13.15

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Paul's 

Wareham 

Dorset 

The books my dad loved ...

I want to read all the books my dad loved - 

To drink cassis with Dick Diver - 

To sit in the garden above the wine dark sea - 

I want to ask Jay if you really can recapture the past - 

I want to pine for the light at the end of the dock - 

To see if boats can sail against the current - 

I want to share Yossarian's astonishment at that Catch - 

That outrageous wickedness, that Catch 22 - 

I want to join the bombardier, naked in the tree - 

Each of the books will bring my dad back to me - 

Each page entering my head - 

Holding the book with his hands - 

Voicing the words with his voice - 

13.47

Tuesday 11 December 2018

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

Dorset

Winspit ...

We walked through the silent village to the sea - 

Leafless trees reflected December sunlight - 

Each wind-shaken house was warmed by old memory - 

Remembered names were cast skywards from winter fires - 

The deep valley took us to the narrow bay - 

Drystone walls bordered ancient fields - 

Windscupted trees, then hawthorn, marked our path - 

Below us, the fissured rocks were white with foam - 

A boy had been drowned here - 

The dark swell was like a curtain - 

If it drew back, we'd see him - 

HIs bright shape lost amongst the waves - 

12.34

Sunday 9 December 2018

Winspit

Dorset 

.

Moment by moment becoming invisible ...

I threaded my way through Wetherspoons early morning drinkers - 

I handed Gordon his latte - 

Already there were three beggars in Falkland Square - 

Each one sat before his small coins - 

Pinched grey face raised to the sky - 

Moment by moment becoming invisible - 

Saturday 8 December 2018

Poole

The sidewall's shredded ...

I skim read Carp World whilst the new tyre was beng fitted - 

Strange machines hissed - 

I tried to look burly - 

I knew nothing about tyres - 

I gazed at the pictures of speeding dream cars - 

The sidewall's shredded the tyre fitter said - 

The Pirelli will cost you seventy nine - 

15.33

Friday 7 December 2018

Cribbs Tyre and Battery 

Sandford

Dorset