The smoke in her hennaed hair ...

I read a few icy pages of Therese Racquin - 

The beach cafe would soon be closing - 

I put down my book - 

I heard a song from a car radio - 

I could see the gaudy reef of the pier, the worn hotels facing the sea - 

I remembered meeting Annick on this beach - 

She was with her latest boy - 

I sat with them on the warm stones - 

I saw the bronze bracelet round her wrist - 

I smelled the smoke in her hennaed hair - 

Tuesday 2 July 2019

Southsea  

The rose garden ...

Each bench remembered a husband or a wife -

I'd been here before, to this rose garden by the sea -

How quickly the little plaques were tarnished -

The swan boats gathered up in the middle of the lake -

The evening becoming night -

The waves breaking upon a stony shore -


Tuesday 2 July 2019

Southsea 

It would be smooth ...

I'd go here,  I thought -

This would be my barbers -

I'd drive here, with new notes in my pocket -

There'd be no copies of Carpworld here -

There'd be jazz, or smoky piano music -

It would be silky -

It would be smooth -


Tuesday 2 July 2019


Albert Road
Southsea 

Years whispering ...

We walked, the two of us, through midnight streets -

We'd heard jukebox laments, felt the years whispering, falling from the sky -

Now we walked past silent houses, followed by those we could no longer see -


Tuesday July 2 2019

Southsea 

I'd hear their voices ...

I looked for my parents' final bed -

I longed to hear their voices, even here -


I wanted to lie upon their bed -

I'd press my ear to the silent earth -


I'd put on the green coat they each wore, just for a moment -

I'd hear their voices in the final garden -


Tuesday 2 July 2019


Warblington 

Going on pilgrimage ...

Boozy greenery shaded the garden -

Inside the bar, there were framed photographs of 1970s TV stars -


Richard said that he and Kate might go on pilgrimage -

Their path together would start here, in these Southsea streets -


Across the sea they'd follow ancient ways -

The moon would be full in a sky filled with stars -


They'd make new stories -

They'd sing new songs -


18.43
Tuesday 2 July 2019

The Phoenix
Southsea

Time for a haircut ...

Waiting for the chair, I looked at the photographs in Carpworld - 

The small boys, cradling monstrous fish -

Gaffers casting their lines with knowing smiles -

It was my turn next -

Meanwhile, I listened to the banter -

Something about tattoos -

I read the sign above the chair -

What happen at the barbers, stays at the barbers - 

I put down Carpworld - 

Your turn now the barber said -



11.30
Monday 1 July 2019

Barnets
Warehan
Dorset