The Big Issue seller lopes police taped streets.
Wears a long black coat like Johnny Cash.
Today he hawks Echoes, the stall
in the Poultry Cross shadow –
poison media, media poison.
He seems distracted,
in a world of his own
barely notices the punter
approach the stall.
Between his hands two halves of a white stone.
He strikes the pieces together, fires a spark.
Jonathan Chant
Illustration: Claire Palmer
(after JMW Turner)