Sirens

Without working for days
I’m trying to get a job
And find a flat
Without the local patwa
To put me in
The right place
Always
For such a thing
As advanced doing
Or
Just plain doing period

I find myself thinking
While I’m having a piss
And this reflection
Is thinking about the image
And it’s the image
That always is
But Isn’t
Without working for days

And I was thinking
About the damned
Luscious inspiration
Of the work of others
Images made elsewhere
By artists
In magazines
So rich
Like sweets
Or chocolate mouse
Sirens
To help starve me
From mine

And I remember how
Last time I was in England
In Heffers
I thought
Don’t ever look at those magazines
Because they interfere
With the tabula rasa
Jumping in
And getting there before me

So I can only think
That as much as I’d like to jam this ship
Into that invitation
And drown meaning
With someone else's gesture
There will shortly be
A wind
That carries me
To that clarity
Where I cannot see