Eulogy

Yassir Arafat, John Peel, Old Dirty
Bastard, Emlyn Hughes (November, 2004)

Balding, paunchy, and badly dressed, he had the air of
a Philadelphia McDonald's parking lot
wearing a cheeky grin
and a pistol, born for so long on his hip, that
rap music evolved around him.
He could claim to have broken The Fall and
the White House lawn

Determined to restore Palestine to roadmap
He became a DJ in Dallas
And played songs that sounded like people fighting-
A style that earned him the nickname Crazy Horse
But despite the hallucinogenic overtones, he refrained from indulging in
corruption, misrule and human rights abuses
as he led his wolves directly into
the hearts of suspicious teenage listeners

He was later arrested for failure to pay child support
and announced that he enjoyed "vigorously grandparenting"
with a "face of terror",
His nasal pronunciation and short vowel sounds were powerfully
derailed by persistent violence

With the onslaught of Beatlemania
He was shot in the back and arm
by Liverpool boss Bill Shankly
but the wounds were superficial.

He became the instantly recognisable face of
the inexplicable “Big Baby Jesus”
but failed in both war and peace to achieve his dream of
being driven by limousine from
his West Bank headquarters
to a New York State welfare office to pick up his cheque

He signed interim peace accords with Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres,
appearing together on a Mariah Carey remix.
Clearly not on the payroll of any record company, his words carried weight
His first marriage to a 15-year-old Texan girl was dissolved
into
20 vials of crack-
like
a plane crash,
pre-recorded,
and broadcast every night for the last ten years

Living at his mother's home under house arrest,
He was somehow enduringly adolescent and old before
his time,
A modern day
television quiz show
phoenix,
who installed a one-party system
but could play in three different positions,
A spirit of the all-conquering Liverpool side
With boundless reserves of drive, enthusiasm and battling qualities
Who vowed to
play The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK"
until his country was united

Death
has been widely reported in a mainstream media
a global phenomenon
rife with cronyism, run so single-handedly that only
tears of countless
millions
can make the
cold blooded
newsprint
sing

© Ross Sutherland 2006