Hippolay ...

The Bosnian lady handed me the Big Issue - 

Happy Merry Christmas she said - 

How are you? I asked, handing over the small coins - 

Not so good she said - 

Hospital - it's there - pointing to her middle - hippolay - hippolay - 

What - your tummy? I asked - 

No, no -  

She frowned - it's there, hippolay - 

What did she mean, I thought - 

Every Thursday she sat there, on her small folding stool - 

The sunshine warmed her - the rain fell upon her - 

She carried her life upon her back - 

What did I know? - 

Take care I said - you take care - 

Happy Merry Christmas she said - 

11.30

Thursday 23 November 2017

South Street 

Wareham

Dorset 

At Gulliver's ...

Late this afternoon, I whiled away the time in Gulliver's Bookshop -

I turned the pages of new biographies -

I blanched when I read a few pages from a history of the Holdomor - 

A shelf of Science Fiction made me think of strange adventures - 

I was baffled by a cosmologist's explanation of parallel universes - 

Here the only sound was the whisper of freshly printed pages -

The only anxiety was if a volume was foxed - 

16.30

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Gulliver's Bookshop

Wimborne 

Watching Bladerunner 2049 ...

Last week, Richard and I saw Bladerunner 2049 - 

We were plunged into a beautiful ravaged world - 

We saw marvels which chilled the heart - 

We held our earliest memories tight - 

Snow fell upon our outstretched hands -

16.23

Tuesday 5 December 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset

The shell like an ancient coin ...

I picked up a shell from the beach of ribbed sand - 

It was worn thin by the tides and the long passing of years - 

I held it in my hand like an ancient coin - 

I felt the days whisper over my skin - 

I felt still within it the heat of glorious summers - 

If I closed my eyes I could see a golden shore - 

 

15.10

Monday 4 December 2017

 

Studland 

Dorset 

Leaping across a rock pool ...

I found some small photographs of myself in the Milady Confectionary of Quality tin - 

There I am, my twelve year old self, launching myself into the air, leaping over a rock pool - 

I'm wearing sandals - 

My dad took the photographs with the Kodak Instamatic -

I can see his shadow - 

I learned to swim near this rocky shore - 

The air welcomes me, like the waves - 

My body has yet to thicken - 

All my weight is of dreams and promise - 

13.24

Sunday 3 December 2017

Staunton Road

Havant

A shameful being ...

We've spent the day wondering if we would be driving to Havant - 

Jane had rung saying that the boiler was banjaxed - 

The radiators in the lounge of memory were icy to the touch - 

Anne showed her quality - 

She cajoled the girl in the call centre - 

She spurred on the engineer - 

To my shame, I sat sighing in my chair - 

I sat there, with my arms folded - 

I packed my rucksack, yet I knew that I was a shameful being -  

19.06

Saturday 2 December 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset 

There are molehills in the churchyard ...

There are molehills once more in the churchyard - 

Early this morning I stood on the bright grass - 

Like the trees and the lichened grave stones I cast a long shadow - 

The sun was low in the pale blue icy sky - 

Under my feet were winding tunnels, moles in dark conclave - 

They knew the secrets of the yielding earth - 

They decorated their halls with flint and bone - 

Their ancient world touched ours, silent and unknowable - 

08.00

Friday 1 November 2017

The Old School House

East Stoke

Dorset