Helen McCrory - d. April 16th 2021

What materials: voice

like the slitting of lace,

eyes like quiet fireworks,

every glance speaking

of quiet feminine steel

and a gypsy’s curse.

Read about Helen McCrory here

Shirley Williams - d. April 12th 2021

Whatever stripe you wear

in the chambers of possibility, 

you cannot simply be,

you must do; change course

when the path blurs, veers;

find new ways for your cause.

George Segal - d. March 23rd 2021

On the great stage of days

you are what you were. Fun,

even through the fallow years,

the typical American, always.

And classy? More than a touch.

Read about George Segal here

Frank Worthington - d. March 22nd 2021

Look! The Georgie Best

of the basement classes,

a ponytailed Maradona, 

iconoclast in cowboy boots,

Elvis with rolled-down socks.

Too late! He's left us for dead.

Read about Frank Worthington here

Yaphet Kotto - d. March 15th 2021

Anybody ever tell you 

you look dead, man, like 

the shadow of a coffin?

Sure, you can graft 

a living in deep space,

or hustle with Mr Big, but

everyone knows names 

is for tombstones, baby.

Read about Yaphet Kotto here

Murray Walker - d. March 13th 2021

I stood at Stowe, waiting

for you to call the blurs through 

one by one, voice over-revving

like a bad gear change, but 

the track had fallen silent, 

and I have to stop now, because

I have a lump in my throat.

Read about Murray Walker here

Lou Ottens - d. March 6th 2021

Side 1 Track 1:

this boy by the radio

taping the Top Forty

on your box of secrets,

spooling his life across

capstan heads, capturing

himself on ferrous oxide.

Read about Lou Ottens here

Chris Barber - d. March 2nd 2021

I left a little flower for you,

New Orleans blue. Next day 

I found petals trampled 

into the rug, a red-hot 

combo stomping as they 

soloed in your name, 

not in grief but in joy.

Read about Chris Barber here

Bunny Wailer - d. March 2nd 2021

Pass it on! The herb is dead

that grew out of a golden age.

Who feels it knows it in their soul,

that sweet voice born of ghetto rage.

Read about Bunny Wailer here

Johnny Briggs - d. February 28th 2021

Here’s to the chancer’s chancer,

to the barrow born but on the up,

at the bar, grinning, pocket full 

of knickers, waving a tenner

- I’ll get these - large Scotch,

and one for yourself, darlin’.

Read about Johnny Briggs here

Lawrence Ferlinghetti - d. February 22nd 2021

The word on your streets

is of the streets. Your night

is made of words. Your beat

is made of night. Your art

is made of beats. The lights

of your city dim, then bright.

Read about Lawrence Ferlinghetti here

U-Roy - d. February 17th 2021

You woke my town,

to tell your version 

of the version,

tell the dread people

that even in death

you were 

the rightful ruler,

the toast of heaven.

Read about U-Roy here

Sydney Divine - d. February 13th 2021

I pulled on my tasselled jaiket,

half-Lanarkshire, half-Hawaiian,

saw it was a rhinestone short.

But what's this in the pocket?

a bag of tiny bubbles, and a chord

playing this is no time for crying.

Read about Sydney Devine here

Mary Wilson - d. February 8th 2021

I dream of you, girl, free now, 

walking barefoot on gravel, 

automatically bringing the

sunshine, and ooh, the thrill, 

the joy this boy got from you.

Read about Mary Wilson here

Christopher Plummer - d. February 5th 2021

I was afraid the world

was disappearing fast,

yet here you are again

to greet me, bless 

my land, bring music 

back into this house.

Read about Christopher Plummer

‘Captain Tom’ Moore - d. February 2nd 2021

I met an old soldier going down, 

talisman for a wounded country,

walking from memory, medals

pricking his flesh like shrapnel,

his worth the sum of all his duty,

striding a final battlefield at dawn.

Read about Captain Tom here

Hal Holbrook - d. January 23rd 2021

I met you in the dark

of an underground lot,

a product of the night,

acting more with shadow

than most could with light.

Read about Hal Holbrook here

Cicely Tyson - d. January 28th 2021

Aunt Jemima is dead,

helped off the screen

and into history, read

wrong but remade right

and acted as truth, seen

and heard, like new light.

Read about Cicely Tyson here

Phil Spector - d. January 16th 2021

I tried to keep it going -

that loving feeling - through

the screaming madnesses,

breached wall of your sound.

You deserve less than these

words, and yet much more.

Read about Phil Spector here

Barbara Shelley - d. January 4th 2021

How do you destroy a legend?

Not by the driven stake,

sword-lop or bloodsuck.

O Mistress of the macabre, 

what’s a nice girl like you

doing in a film like this?

Read about Barbara Shelley here