Kelp singing

Whilst they were singing, spray stung my face - 

I saw a wild ocean - 

A thick rope tore at my hands - 

Swanage

August 2024

Pity goes

I'm reading The Grass Arena -

I can see the Boneyard -

My nightmare London - 

The neck of the bottle -

The vodka - 

The curved platform in the tube station - 

I know their names now - 

Those lurching figures -

Steal the Horse - 

The Dipper, Fingers Knox, Mad Rafferty -

They wake up to the terrible dawn - 

Memory goes, pity goes - 

August 2924

The high villas

I climb the steep mazy stairs of the high villas - 

Pausing on landings -

Breathing in memories -

Waiting for voices -

Swanage

August 2024 

Breathing his soul

Rob picks up his saxophone - 

The music had poured out of its golden mouth -

He had held it -

Close to his heart - 

Breathing his soul into each note - 

Swanage 

August 2024

Haircut

Sharp wings of the scissors above my head -

The rain falling on the street - 

The radio playing -

Wareham

August 2024

Leafletting

A Charles Trenet album in a window - 

A basement flat called Wuthering Depths - 

Dimly lit stairs - 

Wild gardens - 

Narrow alleyways above the bay - 

Pale flowers in a vase

Swanage 

August 2024

The room beyond

I push open the heavy gate of pale lichened wood - 

To see once more this hidden garden - 

The quiet house - 

The spell it casts - 

That high window - 

The room beyond -

Newton Manor

Swanage