DOUGLAS LIPTON

(MAREA BRITANIE)
Always There
Lawrence is always there on the bench in front
just turning at the table
or shouldering the door-jamb.
Lawrence is always there
one footprint on the beach
his heel on the verge
his knee on the counter edge.
Lawrence is always there
reading books on Cortez
and Gila Monsters
and munching chevda.
Lawrence is always there
at the bar with Bunnahabhainn
in the Indian cloth prim denim and suede.
Lawrence is always there
since years and years ago
below in the stalls Row D Seat 8
a smile like mink.
Lawrence is always there
in at the beer tent
Lawrence is always there
Lawrence is spongy and
I know his surname but
I shall never tell it.
Look there he is
in the telephone-box
and at the next urinal trough
and thats him just getting off
the 59.
Lawrence is always there.
Lawrence is always there.
Hes in the corridor
in the waiting-room
in the arcade
in the gallery
in the bureau asking
in the sweet-shop
in the bus-queue
in the hot-house

by the orchids.
Lawrence is always there.
Lawrence is always there
on the veranda
with a bag of perkins
buying postcards of old Glasgow
at the kiosk for a paper
in the basement antique saleroom.
Lawrence is always there.
Lawrence is always there
beside the marble woman statue
between the Cycad and the Tree Fern.
Lawrence is always there
his lambent mannerisms
licking past me in the vennel
with an interesting parcel
and a guitar.
Lawrence is apace
Lawrence is engrossed
Lawrence is venereal
Lawrence is always there
Lawrence is a Collard Dove
Lawrence is a barnacle
quick-fingering the current
hes a butterfish a blenny
and a seam of cinnabar
and hes always there, oh,
Lawrence is always there.
Lawrence is always there.