Brent Kininmont

Coming attractions

1. To Homs

Sylvester Stallone flexes
his objections since

Palmyra and the limestone
sketches of Rome’s occupation.

At the brink of the driver’s seat
the subtitles. Gravel scatters,

he snaps back from the verge
paved across this tabula rasa.

A bend, another bus foretold
for smiles and smiles.

2. To Aqaba

For relief from lines
ruled between highlights,

two doses of Premiere.
Amid the ‘Women

in Hollywood’ special
a question of focus

(‘Was it for this kingdom
Grace Kelly abdicated?’)

and a meeting of minds
on the supremacy

of Britain’s Empire.

*

The raked hills beside
the Desert Highway.

Like a hand describing
the ocean, they roll

us to distractions:
David Lean’s Wadi Rum

and Harrison Ford
galloping through Petra.