I would have loved
to have had sex
with Kafka
Nima said
something about him
the photo of him
I sat opposite her
in the café
in Charing Cross Road
she had a coke
I sipped coffee
I feel the same
about Marilyn Monroe
I said
love to have got
her in bed
Nima looked at me
disdainfully
you would
she said
not necessarily
for sex
I said
just to listen
to her voice
sense her being there
the scent of her
Nima shook her head
ok I’d listen to Kafka
and sense
his being there
but shagging
his arse off
at the same time
she said
an old guy
on the other side
of the café
gave her a look
have you read
any of his books?
I asked
some
she said
the one where he turns
into a big beetle
actually it doesn't say beetle
in the book
it says gigantic vermin
which people has interpreted
as a beetle or bug
I said
she sipped her coke
it's his body
I want to go to bed
with not his book
she said
he's dead
I said
died in 1924
shame
she said
he doesn’t know
what he's
missed out on
I guess he did
I said
she smiled
have to be satisfied
with his books then
won't I
we drained our drinks
and went on our way
I went to Dobell's
Jazz Record shop
and bought
a Coltrane LP
then we walked
to the train station
where she got a train
to the hospital
where she was being treated
for her drug addiction
I went home to play
my Coltrane
on my record player
via another train
thinking of her
and Kafka
and me and Monroe
having sex
in that cheap hotel
off Trafalgar Square
where Nima and I
once had sex there.