Sport 31: Spring 2003
The watch
The watch
I found myself in Planet Spice
reading a publication
devoted solely to watches.
For us lovers of timepieces it said
one of the key pleasures is seeing Bond utilise his watch
to escape from highly dangerous situations.
You did not use your watch to that purpose.
If we had been in America it would have ticked
on the nightstand
as it was it was not too close
still within reach
its black straps like arms
folded behind its face
or the formal costume of a magician.
It held time within it.
In Watch magazine every male model gazed
hand on chin, at the camera
the most important face
gleaming on his arm. He was a gangster
he was a player of football he was—most of all—
truly international.
And when the magazine
reached the height of its powers
it looked at the watch De Niro wore in Italy
his brown suit, brown cap and arm
his bottle of Grappa
and his friend with the shotgun
and the time on the face was five forty-five
which was the time the watch said
when we held it above the bed:
it can't possibly be morning.