Graham Skidmore - d. December 21st 2022

Will it be number one,

the man who’s 90% chuckle,

number two, comfortable as a 

dralon sofa, or number three, 

the warden of Camp Kitsch.

The choice…is yours!

Read about Graham Skidmore here

Frank Williams - d. June 26th 2022

A bell tolls at St Aldhelms,

late gothic and moribund,

uncertain of its boundaries.

A toothsome cleric sighs, 

mounts the peeling pulpit.

Having nothing to say, he says 

nothing, and yet so much. 

Read about Frank Williams here

Matt Zimmerman - d. June 9th 2022

I heard Tin-Tin crying late at night, 

looking for a red streak in the sky.

A star-soaked voice crackled 

from the radio in Father's study,

and a swimming pool rippled. 

Read about Matt Zimmerman here

Patricia Brake - d. May 28th 2022

I am not worthy of you, my Venus 

in fake furs, scripted and portrayed

as heir apparent to the throne of 

Muswell Hill, bursting onto set and 

out of it, bristling at lags and lechers,

all spit and spine beneath that sweater.

Read about Patricia Brake here

Julie Cruise - d. June 9th 2022

I heard a voice on the wind,

a falling angel, echoing 

from canyon to cantina,

part child, part woman,

breathing in strangeness,

breathing out romance.

Read about Julee Cruise here

Bruce Kent - d. June 8th 2022

Not for the powerful but for the weak.

Not to tolerate horror but to face it.

Not to bear arms but to offer a cheek.

Not to wait for peace but to proclaim it.

Not for the bellicose but for the meek.

Not to inherit the world but to save it.

Read about Bruce Kent here

Paula Rego - d. June 8th 2022

You choose your rebel canvas,

paint what is partially there

but wholly felt, knowing a duty

of art is to defy and to confess.

Now you are a collage of air,

assembled from shocking beauty.

Read about Paula Rego here

Dave Smith - d. May 31st 2022

The imagination talks

to a click track which talks 

to a drum machine which

talks to a bassline which

talks to a sequencer which

triggers a sample which 

triggers a groove which 

triggers feet, heart, head, 

triggers an imagination.

Read about Dave Smith here

Lester Piggott - d. May 29th 2022

Your peers knew better the shape 

of your backside than your face, 

kept like a well-tended grave.

This was the long and short of it all;

a rustle of silks, the rumbling pall

of hooves, the going good, the fall.

Read about Lester Piggott here

Andy Fletcher - d. May 26th 2022

You came up from the underground

to bring a new disease. 

Your faith and devotion was to sound

and the spell it weaves.

The studio mute, the tape is rewound;

all silent when you leave.

Read about Andy Fletcher here

Ray Liotta - d. May 26th 2022

As far back as I remember

I always loved a gangster

movie, their abrupt horror,

the unconscionable banter

in the coldness of murder,

such appalling splendour.

Read about Ray Liotta here

Colin Cantwell - d. May 21st 2022

You pre-imagined the life beyond this, 

conceptualised in deathless detail

the gleaming craft that would take us 

there, sketched faraway galaxies, 

developed from imagination to hand,

hand to screen, screen to eye.

Read about Colin Cantwell here

Vangelis Papathanassíou - d. May 17th 2022

You are hoisted on the shoulders

of replicants and runners, carried

from the studio of this world, 

your body now a sweep of strings, 

the lush chords of a grand heaven.

Read about Vangelis here

Cynthia ‘Plaster Caster’ Albritton - d. April 21st 2022

I heard of your little death,

how they cast your stiff form

to preserve the likeness of 

that final excitement, joy 

at leaving hard evidence,

something solid at the end.

Read about Cynthia Plaster Caster here

Kay Mellor - d. May 15th 2022

Here’s to golden stories, 

the kind where people do 

what people do, 

say what people say

in voice and vernacular

as familiar as furniture.

Read about Kay Mellor here

Denis Waterman - d. May 8th 2022

Met an old snout in Mario’s caff
Mile End blag’s off he said, tell your 

guvnor - mark of respect for your DS. 

Slipped him a score for his trouble.

Sweet. Condolences to his missus.

Read about Dennis Waterman here

Régine Zylberberg - d. May 1st 2022

I tried in vain to get into the clubs

from Juan-les-Pins to Jupiter -

Sorry sir,  too scruffy, too dumb, 

too normal. I saw the Queen 

of the Night, movie star on each arm,

laughing as she exited by a side door.

Read about Régine Zylberberg

Klaus Schulze - d. April 26th 2022

Stars pulse for you in sine waves,

square waves, sawtooth waves, 

aligning, interlocking, sequencing.

Background radiation is a drone 

of ambience, the sound of an 

old synth played by cold fingers.

Read about Klaus Schulze here

Harrison Birtwistle - d. April 18th 2022

Life is not a simple sonata

playing in another room; it 

follows rules that cannot be

explained, or no rules at all.

It is both hush and cacophony.

Play it. You will be heard.

Read about Harrison Birtwistle

David McKee - d. April 6th 2022

I’m walking down Festive Road, 

a place that surely must exist, 

wondering where I’ll go, not sure 

who I’ve been. But what’s this, 

deep in my pocket? A pen. 

It will help me remember.

Read about David McKee here