Populist presidential candidate Donald Trump had a less-than-secret meeting with other Republicans on Monday 21 March to try to improve his relationship with fellow members of what is called here the GOP (Grand Old Party). I stumbled across the meeting by chance on my way to visit the nearby Capitol building.

The get-together was held in the offices of legal firm Jones Day. Crossing the road behind their huge office building I noticed a policeman arrive on a motorcycle with sidecar. From a previous trip I knew they were used for motorcades, so I hung about. Sure enough, he parked across the road to block the traffic and dismounted, followed by a bevy of bikes, melodramatically stopping traffic and ordering people about. Just like in the films.

Trump’s motorcade followed, escorted by secret service in their Chevy Suburbans, a wailing of sirens, and gnashing of teeth from bystanders as I asked: how do you view Trump?

The press pack had quickly set up on both pavements, with TV crews and photographers from across the world. And me. The lead car, carrying Trump I was told, shot into the goods entrance of the building, pictured, with two more of the darkened-window vehicles parking protectively behind. Men in suits, bits of wire sticking out of their ears, jumped out and spread around looking serious. We could see the doors of The Donald’s car being held closed, presumably until the building’s shutter doors were closed.

I stepped into the road to try to get a picture of the candidate, hoping in fact to ask him about his policies for poetry under a Trump presidency. The rather large policeman seemed not to be amused: “Step back onto the sidewalk, sir.”  Realising I was the only person not obeying that protocol, I chose to obey. At least it got me into conversation with the press pack gathered on the same bit of pavement: CNN, Japanese TV, and a host of others including Reuters photographer Joshua Roberts.

Who are you with, I was asked. Write Out Loud, a UK poetry news website (ahem). They looked impressed. Someone wrote it down. I told them of my quest to get Trump’s views on poetry, his favourite poem, and so forth. At least it got a laugh from otherwise bored journalists. So how do the British view Trump? I expounded, hamming it up a bit, then noticed a TV camera trained on me. So I shut up. I was told afterwards it was EWTN “giving a Catholic perspective on the news”. It didn’t make the cut for that night’s bulletin, thank, er, goodness.

PHOTOGRAPH: JULIAN JORDON / WRITE OUT LOUD