‘I have no money to pay for a funeral’. 

I was so broke I even had to borrow  
Buster’s gun to do this. So here I am 
in a Santa Monica restaurant bathroom  
having run out of gags, routines, sorrow 

even, unable to pay the goddamn bill, 
for my last meal. Now there’s a thought 
for a final two-reeler quickie short 
with Lloyd, Monte or Babe – what the hell? –  

too dark. And who would buy it anyway 
with my record? I drink far too much. 
They say I’m a plagiarist, apparently,   

both of others’ work and my own. I touch 
the re-dated letter in my pocket. Be strong. 
I cock the hammer, wonder if I’ll hear the bang. 

Patrick Ramsey was born in 1962 in New Jersey but was raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, he worked mainly in publishing and bookselling. He co-founded and ran a small literary publishing house, Lagan Press, for over twenty years and is now retired. As a younger poet, his work featured in important anthologies such as Trio Poetry Introductions 6, The New Younger Irish Poets and The Map Maker’s Colours: New Poetry from Northern Ireland. He is returning to writing after a thirty-year silence.