Dante Papier: An Announcement
Dante Papier is the mind-child of Novlr Author Daniel Piper, whom you can find on Instagram and substack and you can buy his book here. He has a column here on the Novlr blog (read his intro here). Enjoy.
Dear friends and fans,
I am thrilled to announce that, after eight long months, my battle with writer’s block is over. Today, I have written my first poem of the year, and I am utterly delighted to share it with you (below). The poem, titled Poem, sits somewhere between Romantic and Victorian poetry (Romanvic), and is loosely inspired by the work of Byron, Keats, Shelley and Adele.
Whilst I don’t wish to blow my own trombone (and it is important to remember that this is my first new poem in a long time – go easy on me, dear reader!), I think it might just be the best poem of the decade, and I suspect it will start appearing on school syllabuses in the not-too-distant future.
If you are moved by this poem, please feel free to send any comments, compliments or commendations, and I will endeavour to respond within 10 writing days.
Poem
I am sitting in a
cafe.
I have ordered a flat
white
and a sausage
roll.
The man next to me
is
wearing sunglasses
indoors.
He’s an
idiot.
My flat white just arrived
in
a
takeaway cup
even though i am sitting inside.
I asked the barista for a
proper cup
but apparently they
are not doing
proper cups at
the moment because of
covid.
The man in sunglasses
is
now
on his
laptop.
He’s an idiot.
I hate it when people
use
laptops
in cafes.
It is vulgar and
distasteful.
My sausage roll just arrived.
The sunglasses man
just asked if
I know
the Wi-Fi password.
I told
him
no.
(It
is
espresso.)
He’s an idiot.
The barista just
came over and told
me and the sunglasses man
that the cafe has a
“No laptops” policy
during the weekend.
I explained to him
that this is
actually
an
iPad
but he did not seem to care
so I am going to have to
finish
the poem
now.
