The Last Text Message

<p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>The 'Final Words' a 'Dying Declaration' the 'Suicide Note' perhaps the 'Last Will and Testament' have always a chance for any of us - although hopefully a long time from now - to have the final words on whatever the matter is that really matters and in some ways speak from beyond the grave. In fact they could even be carved on a stone over a grave. How final is that?</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>I was thinking about this the other day as I was clearing some drawers and came across an old mobile phone from the 1990s and remembered that when SMS / text messages arrived how revolutionary and nice it was not to have to talk to work colleagues you could instead just send them a message and err they would never know that you were still in bed.</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>(Just me?)</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>Anyway I also remembered (looked-up) that initially such messages were limited to a grand 160 characters including spaces and this gave rise to the death of punctuation and the English language as we knew it.</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>Probably.</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>But this anthology and the poems it contains aren't meant to be morbid or a complaint instead the prompt was to think of a final short message that could be conveyed in the form of a poem that didn't exceed 160 characters</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2>Needless to say there were some great responses and we selected the finest of them for this wee anthology with words from:</p><p data-sleek-node-id=8133a2></p><ol><li>Gerald Killingworth</li><li>Amanda Hill</li><li>Julie De Brito</li><li>Liz Kendall</li><li>Nigel Kent</li><li>Roger Waldron</li><li>Wendy Goulstone</li><li>Christopher House</li><li>Philippa Ramsden</li><li>Julie Leoni</li><li>Miriam Moore</li><li>Patricia M Osborne</li><li>Phil Santus</li><li>Neil Windsor</li></ol>