As the train stops

a billboard

informs me

that I can rent

onethousandmoviesinstantly

but I only think of you

counting the clouds

in hop fields

as they journey

to France

where we will meet them

as we sip coffee

at Gare de Champagne-Ardenne

and discuss Satre and TGVs

 

A recluse stares at me

from platform zero

as he drinks his cider

he has a dog called Pocahontas

they are awaiting their connection

on the Hades Light Railway

I play thin sticks with him

until he alights at Gravesend

leaving his dog behind

I wrap it in a maroon-grey blanket

and place it on a bench

with a book of collected poems by

Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe

 

To pass the journey

I am composing ratt-rimes

and selling them to peddlers

who are dancing in the aisles

much to the amusement

of the liversick pilgrims

who will change at Faversham

for Canterbury East

 

As the tunnel advances

awaiting the day-spring

that will never come

I am collecting your letters

ours will be an elliptical book

which will be popular in Portugal

but not in France

in time we will travel

to the white city

for a joint signing

in front of a priest

who will hum a Fado

as we sleep

in view of his bridge.

 

When we leave

the children of Fatima

will bid us farewell

as they play thin sticks

with the gleaming rails

whilst listening to the music

of the whistling trains.