Bridge: Tower Bridge
Title: Tower Bridge
Writer: Regina Beach
Artist: Elizabeth Millington
The artwork: 27.7 x 37 cm, linoprint
Description: Tower Bridge is perhaps the most iconic and impressive bridge to span the Thames. This autobiographical poem and linocut print make the historical personal in modern times.
TOWER BRIDGE
Regina Beach
After Ada Limón
In a former council flat, second floor walkup
I see myself playing house, wondering “what if”
swirling in pre-COVID naivety in Bermondsey
Borough of Southwark where the beer mile
invites revelers into railway arches to sit on hard benches
sipping a half or a third for the price of a pint
Imagine Dragons pouring through every speaker
Yeah, take me to the top; I’m ready for whatever it takes
C walked to work across Tower Bridge
his daily commute, faster than the bus
the Thames called and the wind
kissed his cheeks, made him feel alive,
or at least less hung over
in a capital where we were both treading water
I stayed in the flat, teaching English to students
on the other side of the world
smoking roll ups on the balcony, I worried
about money, the future, the price of love
sitting on the purple velvet chair in the lounge
telling my journal my big ideas, half-cooked plans
I walked to meet C after work, stopped by raised cantilevers
mesmerized by century-old concrete and steel
effortlessly making way to let masts and sails through
late for dinner, I dreamt of the future
and I’m going to quit smoking, become a real writer
and C’s going to start his own business, work for himself
and we didn’t know if those dreams could come true
that we could careen towards a domestic life
that neither of us wanted, but definitely needed
trading the oyster of the world for intimacy, heartache
that improbability of a foreign-born romance
hard fought, but perhaps destined to be
You know, last month we visited, walked from South Bank to Tower Hill
reminiscing about our time: short lived, but momentous
in the shadow of a two-towered icon
a throwback heard on a cyclist’s bluetooth speaker
‘Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins, I do what it takes