Alerted by reports

Of a man hanging

From an upstairs window

With the curtains twisted

Round his neck

The police forcibly entered

The house.

 

While paramedics cut the body down

And pronounced it dead

The police searched

The premises.

All the rooms were empty

But in the fireplace

Was a pile of his debts

With some bounced cheques

He had made out to himself

Placed next to a neat bundle

Of unpublished writings

And unhung drawings

Including, on top,

A poem not yet written

Entitled ‘Final Curtain’

With a brief synopsis

Of the performance piece

They had just walked into.

The coroner was unable

To reach a verdict

As she had no classification

Applicable to hyperrealistic

Works of art.