The animals and the people meet
no bars nor walls between their feet
Such are the rules
of the Emperor’s zoo
A gibbon shares a cup of tea
With a princess from across the sea
Such are the joys
of the Emperor’s zoo
A lion roars
a child dies
Such are the perils
of the Emperor’s zoo
__________
Notes:
1. Written on July 3rd, 2019
__________The ship sailed into the harbour, empty and dead. No sign was there of struggle, but no sign was there of life.
And the people of the town, rather than worry about the mystery of whatever calamity had occurred, had to worry instead about whether they would be made to take the blame.
__________
Notes:
1. Written on July 3rd, 2019
__________
__________
Notes:
1. Written in August 2020
__________“Enjoy your retirement, they said, as they read out the celebratory statement they’d prepared for the occasion.
“Towards the end, they summed up the facts of my life. All the data collated, all the facts and the figures and the failures, recorded at source not just by my devices but by all of theirs, all of yours.
“What struck me the most as I listened, as I watched, as I smiled and reacted exactly how I was supposed to, was not how much of this wasted life of mine I had forgotten, but how much I remembered. All those stupid comments, all those awkward silences, those social embarrassments, those cowardly retreats. All the regrets, all the shame. The lies, the truths. I remembered it all.
“I remembered it all.”
___________
Notes:
1. Written in December 2019
2. And with probably the longest title anything of mine has yet had
3. Even despite my love of long titles
__________
Notes:
1. The script for this was written on August 6th, 2020
2. And then the comic was made in September sometime
3. This was longlisted for the 2020 Observer/Jonathan Cape Graphic Short Story Prize
4. But got no further than that
5. The Baron was an attempt at seeing if I could actually draw Nietzsche
6. And though that experiment was a failure
7. It didn’t stop me trying again