Tag: poetry
Departure – 8th June 1994
Waiting on the back seat of the bus
To leave for home
Leaving you behind
The thought of me and you not being us
Being all alone
Really hurts my mind
You watch and wave as I depart
And hunger for you pangs my heart
And I have not realised what you meant
Til all these lonely days I’ve spent
Fame And Fortune Is A Stupid Game – 20th May 1994
Kurt Cobain, what’s your point?
Couldn’t take the pressure
Couldn’t face the world and his wife
Too much shit said, too much
Put on to you by people you never knew
Pissy schizophrenic, suicide, no surprise
Rock legend dies
The revolution he never asked for
Killed him in front of his follower’s eyes
Kurt Cobain, what’s your point?
Sad loser took the easy way out
Gave up instead of getting away
To take the chance to play another day
Talent gone and forgotten by next century
That’s the waste
And the fame others hope to taste
Will still dangle like a carrot
For the young hopefuls to untangle
Shutdown, Thirst!, Flaming Katie – Joiners, Southampton, Hampshire, UK – 16th April 1994

5th Jan 2024 – Words from Rich Levine as I have little memory of this now and it seems I didn’t write anything at the time either:
“This was an emotional night. Steve’s memorial gig (there was also another remembrance gig around the same time at our old school Alderman Quilley in Eastleigh) saw his old band THIRST! continue with Philip Beevers from CHICKEN-BONE CHOKED joining. If we didn’t love the SHUTDOWN guys (Neil Cox, Christian Burton) already then them coming from Worcs to play this benefit gig for pretty much nothing cemented that feeling. FLAMING KATIE (Russell Pataki) played too & it was a night of both tears but also togetherness in friendship when this very close-knit scene came out to show their love and commemorate. Prior to his passing, Steve had planned to put out a poetry zine. In the aftermath, Rob & Shaun put this out as a tribute to Steve under the name ‘40,000 Reasons For Living’ (the title came from a line in the R.E.M. song ‘Texarkana’ which was played at Steve’s funeral) & the cover of the zine used the burning house photo that was on the sleeve of fIREHOSE’s ‘Ragin’ Full On’ LP. The same photo was used as the backdrop for this gig flyer.”
The mass debate never ends – 9th February 1994
Woke up wrapped up in my baby. Her skin so smooth and soft. Is it any wonder I wake up erect, groin pushing against her delicate flesh. I woke gradually but it took more minutes to stir her from her slumber.
She is an angel in the morning – she is an angel with a sore head. Sour, I called her this morning. We laughed it off though and I set to a day’s work head held high. I actually felt worse bodily wise today than the previous two I had off work ill. I’ve a cold coming on in the head and it promises to be a bastard!

Read Broni’s Dummy and Maddy’s letter this morning which gave me much food for thought though playing catch up on two days work saw to it that I forgot about it til my baby picked me up again. Some days just flash by like they didn’t actually happen.
My baby worked herself silly again and then cooked a lovely meal and it all caught up with her after elegant sufficiency. I took the initiative and dragged her out of her coma and we went and played along the watery piers at Poole Park. She dropped her draws to piss, not realising it was in the light cast from yonder shore – we laughed and ran and let swans follow us, gliding gently across the black waters.
On return to base camp Broni set about more work (!) which took up the rest of the evening. I took the opportunity of writing up some more poems (dating back to 1988). There was a couple there I thought were ok. I’d written down a couple of ideas I’d had floating around in my head and decided to put headgear into action and write full poems around them. One worked really well and the other led to another great poem. I wonder if I’ll look back in six years time at these and just think ‘they’re ok’!
Hey, here’s something I wanted to write down: “The world is permeated with roses of happiness all the time, but none of us know it. The happiness consists in realising that it is all a great strange dream” – Jack Kerouac. With that, I’ll end the day knowing it’s an exciting time ahead.
