As if his glamour would never leave him

I'm reading London Triptych -

Thinking of Geoff -

How I first saw him -

At some party with Rich, one young summer -

 Wearing a flying jacket - 

Not dancing - 

Even then, that air of louche melancholy  - 

Later, reading the diary he kept of his travels -

The words he scrawled -

Pages still scented by the bidis he smoked -

The rides hitched with the American girl -

The months in Tehran -

The stony fields - 

The tea house gardens in seared villages -

The kisses of the tribesman near Kandahar - 

I remember him casting coins -

A white moon above our house -

The night air scented by ripe apples - 

Candles lit in the low ceilinged room -

Someone had put on Ricky Lee Jones - 

Geoff saying he'd cast The Well -

Wind over water -

He knew the names of birds -

In Yorkshire, he'd skinned a rabbit, made rabbit stew -

An icy stream ran past a field of thistles - 

We drank red wine listening to the rain -

*

Geoff rolling his bravura joints in the Sunbeam Rapier -

Guiding me through the wicked streets -

Parking outside a discrete door -

I was a wide eyed boy, knowing nothing -

I remember the dinner -

The laughter and the stories -

The glistening bottles -

Hardly knowing how I drove back -

Dazed by it all - 

 

Geoff inviting me to yet one more party -

This time with Anne, my new wife - 

My life then one of dizzying kisses, gaudy nights -

Wild swimming in summer rivers -

Arriving at the London house -

Girls wearing dresses made of cobwebs in the narrow hallway -

Geoff's boyfriend upstairs -

A dancer, dark and slender -

Music in every room - 

This last bright memory of him - 

When we were all beautiful -

Before years fell from the sky - 

Geoff dancing as though he were in a story -

As if his glamour would never leave him -

August 2026

Ward B3

I saw Mel in Ward B3 -

 I knew those beds, those stairs -

I remembered the gentle surgeon -

The joy I'd felt when waking -

Poole Hospital 

July 2026 

After Mavis had gone

Four jigsaws -

Hot Wheels -

The sadness of toys -

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

July 2026 

I still think I'll see you

I still think I'll see you -

Your bright face -

Hear your voice -

I remember stroking your hair -

Refusing to look at my watch -

Saying I love you very much -

The Old School House 

East Stoke 

July 2026 

Their bright hearts

Watching two of my darlings on the mega slide -

Whooping and whirling -

This sky -

Their laughter -

This moment with their bright hearts -

Too soon a memory -

Mega slide

Corfe Mullen

July 2026

When I saw you

When I saw you, I longed to hold you -

You were wearing a green dress -

I'd not seen you wearing a dress before -

I said how lovely you were -

I wanted to say far more -

And, later, we sat in a cafe with another -

And I was silent, looking at you -

Feeling guilt and love -

Java 

Swanage 

July 2026 

An excellent young golfer

I followed Wallace and Peter from green to green -

I felt the cool wind from the bay -

The shape of a memory forming in my hand -

Wallace's smile, his graceful drive -

Peter's words -

The brightness of the sky -

Purbeck Golf Course 

July 2026