Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Living safely

The figures move on screen
deep in the Paris demi-monde,
backdrop scenes from a Degas print.
Bars and cops and tarts and pimps
les poules, les mecs, les flics,
the dangerous world of Les Halles.
Irma la Douce with a heart of gold
and Lester the honest cop
all wrapped up in Whitehall farce
costume changes, mistaken IDs -
a period piece from the sixties.

A noise like a cracker, a shot, a whip
forces me up from my seat.

Outside an icicle snaps from the gutter
crash lands on the roof of the lean-to.


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