December 4th

Sleeping cormorants

fairy lights on the far bank

Orion’s display

I was out in London, the moon and lights on the South Bank shone over the Thames. And when I got home, Orion distinctively shone out of the dark sky.

November 22nd

 

Dark and beautiful

the trees twinkle with the pale

glow of Christmas lights

photo © Mel Melis

September 17th

The cathedral dome

bauble sunk, cupped and smothered

by a fell beast’s hands

Flying over London, I was astonished to see just how small St Paul’s Cathedral is amongst the towers of the city. The Shard is an ugly dagger, sharp and brutal. That it can make Wren’s masterpiece look so small shocked me. St Paul’s still carries a strength, from the river, crossing from Bankside and Tate Modern, it still imposes. But from the air, it looks feeble, a toy.

The journey took us along the path of the Thames into the estuary, the mud flats splayed for hundreds of metres, the hairpin curves of the tributaries, snaking in and out till they reached the brackish water that is neither sea or river.

We then cut south and flew over the alien territory round Dungeness, so barren and lonely looking. A nature sanctuary. Then over the Channel to France.

May 12th

Dirty old river

centuries of silt tumbles

under new metal

A photo taken from the Tate Modern members balcony, me and Sal went to the Yayoi Kusama exhibition. Watched the feral pigeons and the feral people below them from our vantage point. And yeah, there’s a little tribute to a Ray Davies Kinks lyric in my Haiku.

March 22nd

 

Greylags awkward steps

Safe from the shrunk back river

Bankside mud shimmers

 

I had some time at Waterloo station, prior to my connecting train leaving for Bracknell, so I wandered down to the Thames. It was a gorgeous day. The river, I guess due to the dry winter, seemed less “full” than normal. It could have been tidal of course, I don’t know much about such things, but it meant a bank of mud was revealed and allowed birds to promenade along it. These two Greylag Geese seemed slightly out of place, like tourists visiting the big city for the first time. They wandered up and down, taking in the scenery.