Author: gabrielsmy

I should have drunk more champagne

I should have drunk more champagne. And the rest
of the world can kiss my ass. Plaudite,
amici, comedia finita est.
Better to burn out than to fade away.
Tell Fidel that this failure does not mean
the end of the revolution. I see
black light. I can’t sleep. Rain had always been
a harbinger of tragedy for me.
You can stop now; I’m already dead. All
my possessions for a moment of time.
Please put out the light. Please don’t let me fall.
I am not in the least afraid to die.
I must go to meet God, try to explain…
Do you hear the rain? Do you hear the rain?

Compiled from famous last words of real people.

Marine Drive

O we do like to be beside the seaside
Voulez vous promenader avec moi?
Kiss me quick!
Come unto these yellow sands and then take hands
O we do like to walk along the prom!

Words written along the seafront in paving stones in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, spotted 11 April 2011. By Marika Rose.

The World of You

I think the world of you means
I think the guy I like has a girlfriend.

I think the world of you meaning
I think the rain is calling,

I think the rain is falling down,
I think the kids are in trouble.

I think the rain is coming down
lyrics. I think the ayes have it.

I think the world of you.
I think the world is coming to an end.

Google autosuggestions for “I think the…”, April 2011.

Oak Beach

The black police dog winced
as its paws touched the thorns
on the bushes by the side
of a remote beachside highway.

A little reluctantly, the cadaver dog
followed its police handler into
the Long Island brush, looking
for yet more human remains.

We always say ‘another day in paradise’.
The wind whistled through the reeds
and the brush crackled
as the cadaver dog carried on sniffing

Selected text from a BBC news article about bodies found on Long Island, 7 April 2011.

Apologia Ignis

We incorrectly stated
that Julian Brooker, twenty three, of Brighton,
was blown fifteen feet into the air
after accidentally touching
a live railway line.

His parents have asked us to make clear
he was not turned into a fireball,
was not obsessed with the number twenty-three
and didn’t go drinking on that date every month.

Julian’s mother did not say,
during or after the inquest,
her son often got on all fours
creeping around their house
pretending to be Gollum.

From an apology in The Sun, 29 April 2005.

Thwing

Fangfoss, Earswick, Legsby,
Nafferton, Catfoss, Laceby,
Rotsea, Fitling
Dringhoe, Gembling,
Foggathorpe, Monkdike, Duggleby.

A list of place names in the East Riding of Yorkshire. By Marika Rose.

The summers of his youth

In Algiers, you don’t talk about ‘going swimming’
but ‘knocking off for a swim’.

I won’t insist.

People swim in the harbour
and then go rest on the buoys.

When you pass a buoy
where a pretty girl is sitting,

you shout to your friends,
‘I tell you it’s a seagull’.

These are healthy pleasures.
They certainly seem ideal to the young men.

A quote from Albert Camus found in this essay. Submitted by Rishi Dastidar.