William Heath

London Underground

On my first visit to London
the image that comes to mind
is of riding the escalator down

to and up from the Tube,
or Underground, far deeper
than the New York subway.

Most of the posters lining
the right-side wall during
descent and ascent aimed

at British men in raincoat, 
bowler hat, rolled brolly, 
who had mastered the art 

of looking straight ahead while 
gazing askance at the pulchritude
on display in ad after lingerie

ad of women in lacy bras.
As I went up and down I,
too, devoured those images

surpassing anything a Sears
catalogue had to offer
a growing boy in Ohio.

William Heath has published four poetry books: The Walking Man, Steel Valley Elegy, Going Places, and Alms for Oblivion; three chapbooks: Night Moves in Ohio, Leaving Seville, and Inventing the Americas; three novels: The Children Bob Moses Led (winner of the Hackney Award), Devil Dancer, and Blacksnake’s Path; a history, William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest (winner of two Spur Awards and the Oliver Hazard Perry Award); and a book of interviews, Conversations with Robert Stone. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Hiram College. He lives in Annapolis. www.williamheathbooks.com