Safe Psychedelia.

I was thinking again about the idea of having LIFE tattooed on my arm. I decided it should have a symbol to go with it, and eventually settled on a bagel. So now I imagine the conversation that might ensue if anybody saw it:

‘Why have you got LIFE tattooed on your arm?’

‘It’s an affirmation.’

‘What’s that in English?’

‘I want a life.’

‘But you’ve already got a life.’

‘That’s a matter of opinion.’

‘Well, you’re not dead, are you?’

‘Sort of.’

‘Don’t be silly. What’s that O for, above it?’

‘It isn’t an O, it’s a bagel.’

‘How can you tell? It looks like an O.’

‘I don’t need to tell. I know what it is because I had it put there.’

‘Oh.’

‘What?’

‘Oh.’

‘Oh, I see.’

‘What flavour is it?’

‘What flavour's what?’

‘The bagel.’

‘Don’t be silly.’

And all the time I would be listening to the grass grow, while Lucy floated by with diamonds.