A Fat Man In Venice Poem by Peter Pacey

The Bellini I had In Harry's Bar
They brought some little eatables
Was cold and sweet and full of fizz.
A waitress slid a postcard on the table
'It's for you' she said.
Ernest Hemingway is mentioned
And the decor is different in 1930.
Tottering by the canal I swerve
Into San Marco and the Cafe Florian.
A young American woman refuses me a seat.
The band accompanies me as I
Cha cha cha from tiny room to
Tiny room and back to where
The American has left and I can sit.
Dickens and Simone de Beauvoir are referenced
In the menu and nothing has changed at all.

27/2/19