They said
It’s all right if you’re not a creator.
You can be many other things
instead.
You can be a wall
or a bucket
or a danish
or a motor vehicle.

You could be a fishing rod
or a fish tooth
or a fisheye lens.
You could be Len’s younger cousin,
who isn’t an artist,
either.
Have you met Len?
Oh, you’re not missing much.

And you’re not missing much
if you’re not a creative sort
they said.
It’s only one sort of sort to be,
they said.
You could be any other kind in the world
they said
– just use your imagination.

Which is a very fine thing for them to propose,
of course,
except that
without art
without creativity
without imagination
how was I to decide
what to do?