After the Action Movie

by James Sutherland-Smith

I’ll be up and about my business
at a loose end in New York or San Francisco
one early morning seeking nothing less
than the perfect croissant and cappuccino
with not too much froth or cinnamon.

Behind me the police will be calling crews
to start clearing up the wreckage made
by the hero after he’s honoured dues
to a murdered wife, for whom vengeance paid
in dramatic full.  For him, wounds tended,

a shower, a back rub at the very least,
a croissant that melts upon the tongue,
a cappuccino on which a dust
of chocolate has been sprinkled by the young
blonde who defied her boss, are only just.

In the meantime I’ll be finding the right café
and I’ll start reading, at the back of my mind
the thought of a second croissant and a day
removed from the shouts of the experts who can’t find
what the hero told them is in the rubble.

Little do any of them know that it is I
who have what they’re sifting the damage for.
Engrossed, I read on and with only a slightly
greasy finger do I turn page after
page until I reach the set of codes

which might plunge the world into catastrophe.
But I’ll ignore them and read on and on.
“The Rise and Fall of the Tang Dynasty”
is so compelling and, besides, a decision
must be made about that second croissant.