Shreds of Gorak: 31-40: Short reads of Gorak, #4

By Lemmy Gorak

Memoir, anecdote and meaningful other: Shreds 31-40

 

Run with Wolves: Coming to terms with raising an 'alpha-female' puppy, I learn to embrace her wilder side.

Ediz Caught Wanking: A teenage friendship is shattered by devastating embarrassment.
Insect Clothes: Viewing clothes fluff in bathwater while under the influence of hallucinogens.
Terror at the Tills: A lifetime of mischievous pilfering from supermarkets leads to boredom. To keep things interesting, I create a little game.
Power & Responsibility: A power cut gives concerns over the food in my freezer thawing. To amuse myself I write a farcical letter to the electricity company.
The Hug: I reach back through time with a much-needed hug for my younger self.
Live Forever: After stumbling on an eBay listing for 'immortality pills', I explore the concept of living forever.
That Same Thing: Visiting my dying nan in hospital confirmed something I had felt all along.
Stir: A playful look at prison films, drawing parallels between those imprisoned and the unexpressed-self of society.
'robert': After an incident on a train involving my dog and a baby, I keep myself amused for the rest of the journey by inventing the backstory of two total strangers.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lemmy Gorak
• Release date: Jul 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201848316

Lemmy Gorak

After a short time spent sleeping on London's Circle Line, as a child I toured the capital, staying in a succession of refuges, tents and narrowboats. Although traumatic, it was a time rich with experience and freedoms most don't enjoy. Left to create my own life-map, I relied on nothing but hard-wired survival skills to get me through the many schools I attended, leaving with an O Level in Art and a handful of cardboard Sports Day medals. Picking up a guitar - along with recreational drugs - I found therapy through an anarchic yet unsustainable lifestyle. After numerous shitty jobs and spells of unemployment, I cleaned up my act (a bit) and rediscovered a child-like wonder with the natural world - a connection that has ultimately been my saviour. Seduced by mountains, I headed for the wilds of Cumbria, where with a Blues Harp I busked and played in local bars, before a virus with a household name had its way and a shocking end of an unhealthy relationship left me facing homelessness. I love to amuse myself and make sense of things, and have always kept a diary and scribbled on the back of envelopes; caught in the flow. Now with head and heart aligned, I write in earnest, most mornings while it's still dark.

Book preview

Run with Wolves

We run together now. Through brambles and over fallen trees we crash and tumble, our animal-minds connected. There’s no kill in sight, it is done to satisfy our chase instinct alone.

On first meeting I detected ‘the wild’ in her. She had a mischievous nature that I liked and an explosive energy that left other puppies in her wake. I was quick to socialise her and she’d play with other dogs until they either gave up or near-collapsed with exhaustion. Only a local whippet could match her acceleration - although she’d win on stamina (and looks – she’s a fine-looking lass). Intelligent and dead-easy to train, she was a model puppy.

As she approached what would have been her adolescent years, there was a shift in her behaviour and she began to dominate other dogs in the park. At first it was through play, but it soon escalated into real dog violence. She loved a tear-up. Before long she assumed dominance over all living things. Other dogs were not to be tolerated - cats, deer, horses, postmen and landlords were also chased, while a number of rabbits were killed, and young children mauled if given the opportunity. People would offer her treats, which she would happily accept, provided they were HER treats alone and that no other dogs could get in on the action. All competition would be seen off in clear, unequivocal terms - she had to be at