Substitute

I need a better picture, something which
jerks the subconscious recognition button
a bit more lucidly – perhaps one of those
out-of-focus, hazy things which no matter
how hard you peer at it no-one really knows
for sure who it is (but it looks familiar). Perhaps
that’s what I need; I could substitute Mel Gibson
for me – but no, that wouldn’t work, we’re into
breathing poets and he wouldn’t get a look in.
Immediately I’ve rejected the million possible
substitutions I might have made as being
idiot savant solutions, too adequately equipped.
Hell’s Bells, I’m singular and different, I know it myself,
it irks as much as being a demonstrable non-entity
and the suffering that afflicts is palpably real.
But I don’t have the skill to stop the traffic.
That’s why I need this damn picture.
© I.D. Carswell 2006