Looking For Jeremy Corbyn On The 18.26 Great Western Railway Train From Penzance to London Paddington.

Looking For Jeremy Corbyn On The
18.26 Great Western Railway Train From
Penzance to London Paddington.
from Prima Materia, 2018
 
Looking for Jeremy Corbyn
on the 18.26 Great Western Railway train
from Penzance to London Paddington
calling at
St Austell, Par, Bodmin Parkway
Liskeard, Plymouth, Newton Abbot
Exeter St Davids, Taunton, Bristol Temple Meads
Bath Spa
Reading
and London Paddington
 
Eyes right
to see
conductor’s buttocks
framed in a green coat
 
he’s asking for tickets
he’s asking a man for his ticket
 
“Excuse me.”
 
The man has lids shut
and is resting his chin
loosely on his collar
 
“Old fella!”
“Excuse me.”
 
Shit, he’s dead
Shit, he’s fucking dead
 
“Excuse me mate!”
 
A stir, a gasp
fish on a frying pan
 
he stares at me
 
with my pupils I
communicate
 
“I’m not Jeremy Corbyn.
Have you seen him?
I know he likes trains.”
 
But the man just stares
then fumbles for his ticket
 
I now set regular vibrating alarms
using my wrist watch
I set them to stop me from falling asleep dead
 
Eyes forward
to see
two pink bobbles
atop another bobble
who is taking photos
 
she snaps
snap — snap — snap
she snaps a picture
of not a pout or pose
but a porous expression
leaking out how grim life is
 
she texts the picture
asking the soon to be recipient
 
‘Will you be my boyfriend?’
 
She is not Jeremy Corbyn
(the girl taking serious selfies)
her soon to be boyfriend
isn’t Jeremy Corbyn either
 
Eyes down
to see
a pair of swirly, whirly
red patterned boots
having a conversation
with two scraps
of tangerine peel
 
Their owner is holding
Tony Blair’s face in her lap
stroking his
thin, page-boy hair
typing love letters to him
on her Macbook, making
an eHarmony profile to
cleverly seduce Tony Blair
 
She has his face in her lap
but she wants more
New Labour to be Nude Labour
 
saucy Tony Blair and his kinky wink
he’s got those winky eyes
 
even on matted paper
even after photoshop
 
He looks at me through the gap in the chairs
and he uses his winky eyes to ask me
 
“Have you seen Jeremy Corbyn?
He
uses trains
and I thought, maybe
he might
be on here
using
this train, it’s just
he won’t return my calls...”
 
I blink back
“No, I haven’t seen him
but if I do I’ll point him
in the direction of your face.”
 
After watching the vacant seats
fail to manifest Jeremy Corbyn
I decide to give up my search
 
Who am I anyway?
 
Just a lowly pagan in a black tie
coming back from a funeral
 
What would I do if I actually saw him on the train?
The same thing I did with Phil Jupitus at Jersey Zoo?
 
Point and say his name
 
“You’re Phil Jupitus.”
“You’re Jeremy Corbyn.”
 
I imagine he would say
more than Phil Jupitus
 
maybe he’d point back
and say
“Hey, aren’t you that pagan
wearing a black tie, coming back from a funeral?”
 
I’d probably stare
a fish in a frying pan
and somehow tumble out
 
“Tony Blair’s face is over there and
he wants a word with you.”