eurostar.
you emerge from earth’s
bowels to another
country where the sun
is brighter
even grass and villages
whisper en français

you become obsessed
with taking THE photo
a typical landscape au calais
whenever background is right
a bridge jumps to foreground
at lightspeed



then you realise
everything is
typical
think fleetingly
conviction growing
you’re viewing a loop
it’s the same green grass,
same recurring little église

and all your life has been

déjà-vu.


© rob walker 2004

This one was written way back in 2004. We travelled on the Eurostar from London to Calais – a strange feeling to go so fast under the sea and pop up in another country. Stranger still when we entered the Chunnel under overcast skies and re-emerged to a sunny day. Stranger still when each village looked similar. What’s the French word for déjà vu?

First print-published in my first collection sparrow in an airport
in NEW POETS TEN, Friendly Street/Wakefield Press, march 2005
ISBN 1 86254 670 3