What are your deductions Philip Marlowe?
When treated royally I find
It is my own poor royalties are paying –
My publisher subtracts our ‘business lunches’
‘Celebration dinners’ and ‘book launches’ –
On these I was not counting –
But ‘people’ in ‘Publicity’ insist
While ‘working-out’ my desultory ‘contract’ –
You know the meaning of ‘contract’
In your ‘City of Lost Angels’ Mr Marlowe?
I have no legal agent
But your own self Mr Marlowe
Some say you are a secular ‘holy ghost’
Or even ‘avenging angel’ –
Though those who thirst for justice
Often find ‘the finger’
Points back at themselves
A Record Label honcho
Likewise pulls his publicist aside –
‘Present a blown-up figure to the Press
By which we greet all artists newly-signed –
Not the debt they’ll owe us
When touring takes a toll
On albums that won’t sell – and we ‘Move On’
Meanwhile – social citizens
Find their income-tax ‘invisibly’
Supports the depth of social immorality –
Exporting arms and ‘torture aids’
To regimes who love the label and the brand
‘Made In England’
Mr Marlowe…
Have they never seen the play?
Not by Mr ‘Saint’ – I mean by…
Mr ‘Priestley’ – It concerns
A Spectre Inspector
Who calls while all are feeding their smooth faces…
Halloween or ‘All Souls’ Eve’
‘An Inspector Calls’
Bernard Saint
Illustration: Claire Palmer
.