role model

i wish i was as brave and tall
as charles bronson on
a 30-foot-high movie screen

walking towards
a stark-naked killer at night
gun poised
and grey suit pressed

i wish i was as confident
as bronson when he shoots
the raving nudist maniac
before an audience of cops
like zeus proclaiming judgement on
an insolent mortal

the symbols of the cinema
aren’t always rhett butler
or perky doris day

sometimes it’s 10 to midnight and
the holy ghost of vengeance knocks
and on entrance to your psyche
solidifies as charlie b
a mythic figure sat between
the thunder and the water gods
they in grecian robes
and b with wide ‘80s collars
a mop of greying hair
and unregarded rage