Iterations of 26

26 girls over three years tried to

guess where I was from and

failed all of them with no

exception it didn't matter in

those pubs in those old beds

watching movies together failure

was a sweet rosé we sipped

revelling in our foreign

tongues as they ever

so delicately traded

a confused innocence

 

260 of us must have taken

turns in the showers of that hostel

we went each our own way some

sent by men in suits to sell beers

outside stadiums some wore a

bib picked up newspapers stranded

in the tube me I hit the Top Recruitment

Event and talked to smart consultants

about the grammar in my CV which

autocorrect didn't know how to fix

 

2600 times in the two minutes

we've had this conversation is the

number of times it beats wings

what beats wings? I've forgotten

the term in your language it's

that beautiful insect which

flies great colourful distances

like a slingshot dream it

has no herds no hives

just like us see we are

dragonflies my brother

there's the term we're

dragonflies you and I

 

£260,000 a year we estimated

was the marginal utility of

income of Mr Patrick I took

his order today he acted

like he knew one wine from

another nowadays I only play

the guessing game with old rich

men and Nigerian businessmen

I pretend to laugh with them later

I take my train home with the

drunks and the girls withdrawn

into their headphones like

infant apes in a cage and

when I get off there's

this poster on

Cable St

 

26 million people in Europe

are looking for work

and whose jobs are they after

and a finger is pointing at me

from a hand large enough

to swat me like some insect

whose name I forget again

into these streets where

the homeless berate me where

the schoolkids offer me weed

where spring smells of Orbit gums

and gorged halal and where even

this dank East London rain can't

wash away what's left

of my accent.