Changing Minds: David Raho Meets Will Self

Most of the people I admire are dead so Will Self is something of an exception as he is very much alive and at Clapham Books on 23^rd October 2008 he was relieved to be back in London after touring around promoting his new book ‘Liver ; A Fictional Organ With A Surface Anatomy Of Four Lobes’. This was the first reading and book signing thing I have ever been to, or wanted to attend, but I could not resist meeting the man who has written books such as ‘The Book of Dave‘, ‘Cock and Bull’ and ‘Butt’ to name but a few. I was there early and was offered a glass of wine by the nice people, Nikki Kastner, Ed Mcgarry, and Alastair Kenward, of Clapham Books who own one of the very few independent bookshops left in this part of London.

If You Had Not Been There

If You Had Not Been There
Then who would have been in the space where you were.
And spoken with soft words about the energy of colours
If you had not been there
Then who would have been there to smile and tell me
With kind words about the meaning of giant spiders
If you had not been there
Then we would not have walked side by side by the River Thames
And drank earl grey and talked about identity and life
If you had not been there
Then I would not have been captivated and full of thoughts
And floating home with words singing in every fibre of being
If you had not been there
Then who would have been there and this would just have been
Another dream of longing to fill the empty spaces all around
If you had not been there

Short Lives

A young woman walks past he sees her put down her shopping bags briefly as she retrieves her travel card but she leaves one behind as she hurries for the bus. He sees this and moves quickly picking up the plastic carrier bag briefly examining its contents that he assumes is fresh meat or fish. Nice and easy. He takes a breath as he sees the woman get on the bus. She does not look back and he lets out his breath. He looks quickly left and right to see if he has been seen and then walks off briskly towards the park. It’s not stealing if you find something is it?  It’s your destiny. You can’t argue with fate can you? He feels nothing. He has already forgotten her face. She no longer exists to him if she ever existed at all.