Lou Second - At a party, 1.30 am, blasting music to last

Emerging French poet and artist Lou Second gives us a window into innermost thoughts with his “At a party, 1.30 am, blasting music to last”. With notes of memory, decay, loss, life, and death, the narrator of the poem urges life vibrant as opposed to just survival. “Let me be water,” the poem begs, as though in prayer or manifestation. “‘At a party, 1.30 am, blasting music to last’ is one of my top three wishes,” Loud told The Dewdrop.

At a party, 1.30 am, blasting music to last

Grandma’s ordeal came to haunt me
while looking at the host’s boyfriend,
exhaling tequila puffs to whomever
doubted the forthcoming hangover.

She never was a drinker. She can’t
remember my name though, stuck
in a room louder than her inner voice
with familiar strangers, for years, and
probably some years to come. Her too.

I wish people would stop asking when
I’d like to leave but what I’d like to say
last to the ones I love.

I do not wish to stay long for the sake of it.
I am no shell.

Let me be water,
as smooth as the tides of June.

No party’s worth more than a train ride
home past 12 am.

Lou Second

Lou Second is an emerging French poet and visual artist. Some of his poems have appeared in journals such as the Metaworker Literary Magazine, the poetry anthology I tried not to write from Snapdragon Journal, and elsewhere. His visual artworks have been exhibited in France in 2023 & 2024, in Paris & Toulouse. He writes in English, thinks in French, edits in French to English while swearing in French until his 3 words sentence summons 15 more. You can learn more on Instagram: @louhsecond