(originally posted on June 27th 2013 at vulnerablog.com)
R.I.P Douglas John Thomas Dodson 26th August 1951 – summer solstice super moon 2013
I remember when I came to stay
We were up all night drinking whiskey
Talking meaningful nonsense round the clock
Laughing hysterically at one another and ourselves.
I admire your deep sense of feeling
For being so outrageously full of life
For always crying without holding back
For your big booming body and voice
And your husky laughter
And the troubled life you’ve lived.
I am heart broken to learn that you’ve
Left the planet
I wanted to come and hang out with you again
But I’ve been too wrapped up in myself
And I am so sad about that.
What about the one thousand one hundred and eleven
Books you’ve scribed
And coated in copper
And buried in Wales?
Where are the coordinates?!
You said you’d leave them for only me . . . .
And have you been met back home by your mum?
I bet that’s the happiest and most fulfilled you’ve ever been.
What a journey you’ve had Uncle Max.
I wanted to know you more.
I can see myself in you
And you in me
Your extraordinary aliveness,
Never being quite easy for you.
I wish I got to know you more.
You were right outside the box
Always.
I am full of regret for not phoning you recently
And for not writing to you more.
Only the other day
Probably the day you left
I was planning to
And now you’re gone.
Thank you Uncle Max
For being exactly you.
Even though you carried around that
Hefty dis-belief
That you were unlovable
I love you
And always will.
And I LOVE the way you have requested
For your coffin to be filled
With
Liquid plastic!