Spoiling the Image
We lay on the grass in Horse Guards Avenue
Sunning ourselves in deliberate splendour
(I felt the Underground under the ground
like a pulse under skin)
She did not feel it
(Spoiling the image).
We sat on a bench overlooking the Thames
where ( launches and pleasure-boats
were making mustachios
(slow ones were failing and spoiling the image).
Planes made definite paths in the sky
after the first I saw
(small as the mark on the ceiling really
a creature) jets came too fast for me.
(Spoiling the image)
“Look at the waterways, skyways and traffic ways
People were flowing like rivers” (I argued)
She said they’re acting” or “I’m afraid they don’t know it”
(Spoiling the image).