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Non - Poem (for Stephen)

Item date(s): 26.12.75

Walter Whall Battiss (1906-1982)

Size: 22 x 13cm
Technique: Pencil on paper
Inscription: Signed by the artist

Category: Found
Type: Manuscript

ART 1122

Additional notes:
Non - Poem (for Stephen) Non - Poem (for Stephen) Gray

The FruitBat to the Wombat said:- The Fruit Bat to the Wombat said:-

Hello! Good morning.

I've come to warn you.

Watcher wanter warn me for

I aint done nobody no harm? I aint done nobody no harm? 'arm?

No, I've just come to warn you.

Something born of deep &

long experience.

I don’t want no warnings

NO, I don’t.

Yes, but a timely warning

is useful to a friend like you.

O yes we're friends.

Why warn me?

Well, the warning is:-

"Beware the feckless* fuck." "Beware the feckless* Fuck."

[Signed] W. W. Batt 155

noon 26.12.75

Ox. Dic. FECKLESS

*Feckless, a (Sc).

Lacking purpose or resource,

helpless, futile (effectless)

P.S. Ask Cecil for a Non-Illustration for this Non-Poem, please!

There is a second manuscript of this item written by Battiss on the last page of The Agamemnon of Aeschylus. Faber and Faber Limited, London, 1936. In the collection of Warren Siebrits. The few variations from our copy are shown in the second column.

Ref: GB/50030