Published in June 2008 this collection is a mixture of brand new poems and a selection from my earlier works Casting a Faint Shadow and The Face On The Page. Copies are available at £6.99 plus p & p from dpattison@hotmail.co.uk.

The painting shown below is of The Firefly Cafe on Habersham Street in Savannah GA, USA.



The Firefly Café

We are in Savannah again,
First early Spring, now late Summer.
Spanish moss hangs lazily in the heat.
Balconied windows sleepily watch
As we stare at General James Oglethorpe,
Sergeant Billy Jasper,
Who gave his life for the colours,
And all the impassive others
Impressive in their squares
Of sunlight and shadows.

Here to watch my play, Tribunal,
(International award winning playwright - me?)
We have another, more personal, agenda.
'On the other side of a gulf
Well nigh incredible.' That sentiment
(from Fame is the Spur)
Came to mind in the Firefly Café on Habersham.
I smiled at you across the table.
'Why do you smile?' you asked,

Confident that you already knew.
In my mind, I heard your heels
Clicking rapidly down Calvert Lane
As I waited nervously outside
The Priory Cinema for our first date
September 1st 1956.
Fifty years ago to the day.
We raised a glass to each other,
Drank to the next fifty years.

Standing to leave I pocketed a tumbler
Etched on the side 'Firefly Café',
Not so much a memento - not needing one-
But to surprise you
On the walk back to our hotel.
Recognising that on the other side
Of our incredible gulf
So much has changed and yet
So much remains the same.