stand near me

Bryan Ferry

She s one to watch
Unbeatable on the floor
For her full-length replica
Words
A chance in hell, she says
I am
entirely cut out for this
She tips a bottle to her wrist
Her wrist to her neck
Ignore the features of the room
because the girl s for the win

Earlier she d seen three of the same man
climbing out of a taxi
Three
Our gamer knows this to be
a lucky, lucky sign
Once they passed
nothing but a hum of anybody else
People are clouds
She s one gold tooth winking at the front
and several caps inside
An obsessive ritual persists
Pure, capital O

Tramlines run under the city still
Here at the hotel
she picks a page
Writes the opponent s name
and marks it with a tick in green
A reminder
There are small ways to punish oneself
and I am not here them
Lost titles? I want them back, she says
That s how I feel
Thirst is not an attitude
I waited my time
and tonight s a month-old moon
Pure, capital O
Waiting her time
she s flipping channels
with a remote control
Nothing will suffice
not a drama in any language
It strikes her
no song has a sweet enough touch
The television is turned off and on
exactly twelve times
She wishes
she could unhear an interview she gave
They d said they d been watching her
and she d used the word
annihilate
Stand near me, for luck, they d said
before you break your streak