Not Waving but Drowning Not Waving but Drowning "Not Waving but Drowning" is a poem by the British poet Stevie Smith. It was published in 1957 as part of a collection of the same title. The most famous of Smith's poems, it gives an account of a drowned man whose distressed thrashing in the water had been mistaken for waving. The poem was accompanied by one of Smith's drawings, as was common in her work. The poem's personal significance has been the topic of several pieces of literary criticism because Smith was treated for psychological problems. She contemplated suicide at the age of eight
Not Waving but Drowning as inspiration to the Manic Street Preachers song ‘Ready For Drowning’ which uses the phrase “We’re not waving, we’re drowning” The poem was performed as part of the 1976 album "Tears of Steel & the Clowning Calaveras" released by Australian singer Jeannie Lewis (Track 4b), and recited by two actors: Lex Marinos as the "Narrator" (...but still he lay moaning), and Nick Lathouris as the "Dead Man" (I was too far out...). St. Louis post-rock band Foxing uses the line "I'm not waving, but drowning," in the song 'Inuit', off their record "The Albatross". Australian ambient and alternative music group