John Challis - d. September 19th 2021

We can hear you, Aubrey,

way down here in the Nag,

horse-trading with angels,

sealing the deal with a laugh

like a tommy gun, 

one part adenoids,

three parts scorn.

Read about John Challis here

Melvin Van Peebles - d. September 21st 2021

What was sweet about 

your baadasssss song

was not the song 

but the singing of it;

a revolutionary chorus,

stealing their own scene,

collecting their dues.

Read about Melvin Van Peebles here

 

Richard H. Kirk - d. September 21st 2021

Through murk of interference

comes a drum pattern, blunt

as a drop-forge, and your voice,

distorted, flanged, phased:

This is the voice of the Republic;

stand by for a new manifesto

- beats, bleeps, menace, freaks.

Read about Richard Kirk here

Jimmy Greaves - d. September 19th 2021

After your life of action replays,

a whistle blowing full time

over and over, you in a suit

instead of blood-red shirt, 

the ball still finds its way

to your feet; the saddest man

in the stadium, and the sharpest.

Read about Jimmy Greaves here

Clive Sinclair - d. September 16th 2021

A solemn procession winds

through our streets, a column 

of whirring white hearses,

each conveying components

of a man before his time,  

who made the world bigger

by making it smaller.

Read about Clive Sinclair here

Maria Mendiola - d. September 11th 2021

We'll meet at the eternal disco;

you'll be dressed in sleek strings

and a bright halo of boogie. Maybe

you'll do your dance; a floorshow

for the ages, where everything's

too exotic, and just a little shady.

Read about Maria Mendiola here

Jean-Paul Belmondo - d. September 6th 2021

Vive les essoufflés ;
ceux dans les rues 

ensanglantées 

ou entre les draps,
leurs sourires disant non, 

rien n'a d'importance,
pourtant agir comme 

si chaque petite chose 

était importante.

Long live the breathless;

those on bloody streets

or between bedsheets, 

their smiles saying no, 

nothing matters, 

yet acting like every last 

little thing matters.

Grange Calveley - d. August 22nd 2021

Here is a dog. Here is a cat

Here is a life undrawn.

Wobbly lines. Wobbly mind.

Wobbly days, all gone.

Read about Grange Calveley here

Lee 'Scratch' Perry - d. August 29th 2021

You built a boat of sound for us,

a black ark of your imagination,

charting underwater frequencies, 

madness lurking in every channel,  

upsetting the world with iration.

Read about Lee 'Scratch' Perry here

Charlie Watts - d. August 24th 2021

Listen to the engine playing;

fills with no frills, on tempo, 

less-is-all, never straying,

suited and sharp as a hypo,

directing madness from a stool.

Only the hottest can be this cool.

Read about Charlie Watts here

Don Everly - d. August 21st 2021

The price of love

is what it demanded

from you; to be the half 

that made a whole, 

imperfectly indivisible, 

unaware 

that for the rest of us

half of something 

was everything. 

Read about Don Everly here

Peter Corby - d. August 20th 2021

Late checkout for a dreamer;

now we old guests will break 

shortbread together, cluster 

in crisp slacks at your wake,

drink Nescafé with creamer

in your utilitarian memory; 

a 5-star mind in a 3-star world.

Read about the Corby trouser press here

Sean Lock - d. August 16th 2021

There is no punchline

for you; no one-liner

for a moment’s laughter, 

but your surreal estate,

a deadpan 15 minutes,

then misery ever after.

Read about Sean Lock here

Gerd Müller - d. August 15th 2021

Ich bin einmal mit Der Bomber geflogen;

er hielt sich wie ein Paket

aus Gelgnit, unhandlich,

ticken, ticken bevor es explodiert

in Stücke von sechs Metern.

I once flew with Der Bomber;

he held himself like a package

of gelignite, impossible to handle,

ticking, ticking before exploding

to smithereens from six yards.

Read about Gerd Müller here

Nanci Griffith - d. August 13th 2021

I thought I heard 

a lonely sound;

of hope, peace, 

the instruments of 

our common band.

I hoped it was you,

but it was just

another voice

in another room.

Read about Nanci Griffith here

Una Stubbs - d. August 12th 2021

The last time I saw you

was up East; painted cheeks,

spangled eyes, buttoning on 

a smile like a rising moon,

half-waving from the window

of the red double-decker

that carried you away.

Read about Una Stubbs here

Jackie Mason - d. July 24th 2021

From Brooklyn to the Catskills

the laugh’s on us; hotel tills ring

and punchlines are real punches.

A rabbi steps from the wreckage

of his joke; woman looks up from

her borscht, whispers nervously

are we allowed to laugh at that?

Read about Jackie Mason here

Andy Fordham - d. July 15th 2021

Old Viking steps from a longboat,

sways, smiles, and takes aim.

He is the gentle drunken warrior,

his people baying at his back. 

Sometimes such love is enough; 

Sometimes it is too much.

Read about Andy Fordham here 

Raffaella Carrà - d. July 5th 2021

Quando dicono
canti troppo forte
ballare troppo velocemente,
mostrare troppo,
butta indietro la testa
cantare, ballare,
fare l'amore selvaggio
e fallo, fallo di nuovo.

When they say

you sing too loud,

dance too fast,

show too much,

throw back your head,

sing, dance, 

make wild love

and do it, do it again.

Read about Raffaella Carrà here

Greg Noll - d. 28th June 2021

Beyond the reef,

the last great swell 

is forming. A man,

half boat, half bull,

paddles out to meet

himself, tougher than

the wood of his board,

waxed with self-belief,

death just one more

wipeout far from shore.

Read about Greg Noll here