I did notice something suspicious,
As I traipsed up the stairs at Ealing Broadway,
The announcers words still ringing loose in my ears,
“If you notice anything suspicious,”
And I did, she was 5 foot 5 with dark brown hair,
Liquid blue eyes, blue jeans, trainers, t-shirt (I’ve
Already forgotten the colour), but
She did make eye contact, more than
Once, on the train from White City, and so I smiled
Because the announcer’s metallically repeatable voice,
Hemming us in to the dull painless fear
Of being blown up by disgruntled lonely militant men
And women while we travel to and from work,
Watching the ebb and flow of our lives,
In the ever-increasingly empty threats of the angrily despondent
Self-righteous few, though forever disputed,
That same metallic voice repeats its message of canned fear,
Like some sad Circus barker gone robot,
Tin man rusted in lost days and mindless repetition,
Meaning gone, until that thought echoes
Across the vast empty life-drained space between my ears,
Drawing one mischevious cartoon-like cheek-curving wicked grin
Across my face, “If you notice anything suspicious,” stated the not
So lively not-live voice, “ly cute”, finishes my overworked brain
As she disappears off through the gates to The Broadway,
And I break off up the steps to platform 3, smiling to myself and
Feeling ever so slightly flattered,
She was cute, I’m still smiling
Now.