Michael Fletcher Perrin
1954 - 1984
© 1984 mfp    Do Not Die     

The dead are not resting or sleeping or passed on. They do not rise, descend or move horizontally unless by those still living. There is no movement, no thought, no afterlife, no alternate consciousness no soul no heaven no hell no eternity.

Kill yourself and everything stops.

Pull the trigger. Cut the vein and pour a hot tub. Step out in front of the train. Walk off a ledge and fall ten floors with arms outspread.  Take poison.  Admit that you are alone and close the door.  Live alone enough.

Do not die. Look up girls' skirts on busses reaffirming your tender lecheries. Get drunk and scream or cry. Play music and laugh and dance, go hungry and know what it is to starve.  No breakfast no lunch no dinner for three weeks then eat everything you haven't.  Do not die.

Quit your job and sleep in parks and beg and steal.  Stowaway on an airplane and be sent right back at your destination.  Get sent to jail for 30 days for malicious mischief, disturbing the peace.

Do not die. Change your name, disappear, leave town, start a fight, chase women, stop talking and communicate in sign language, go to school on a government grant, declare bankruptcy, start a religion, run away from home, kick in your television set.

Do not die. Do not give it away. If your life is nothing do not trade it for nothing, bargain for a higher price.

© 1984 mfp  michael fletcher perrin   (Do Not Die was written by Michael - age 29 - not long before he took his own life)


Beloved Son, Friend, Lover, Husband and Brother

Birth Place: Victoria, BC Canada   ~  Date of Birth: August 26th, 1954 
Father: Thomas Kenneth Perrin 
Mother: Patricia Diane Perrin (nee Fletcher)
Married: Jeannie Lee on August 15th, 1979 at Penticton BC
Michael Died: By his own hand July 1st, 1984 
at 10th & Main, Vancouver BC

Michael was a gifted writer. A beautiful young man. 
Intelligent, thoughtful, sharp, witty, passionate. 

He loved summertime.  "I didn't die" he wrote "I'm in Jamaica, lying on a beach.  Not a sound but the waves and the wind."                                                                                 

Remembered and Loved
To those who left a note in Michael's ''book of remembrance' over the years; I thank you. The book has been removed, the messages saved.  I am happy to hear from anyone who remembers Michael. At some point there will be a body of work published from his writings, though likely without revision or editing.  Thanks and much love, Nicola  ~ one of Michael's sisters