Damaris Hayman - d. June 3rd 2021

I cast the runes this morning

and they were clear; 

death is nigh 

for the jolly Englishwoman, 

the white witch in tweeds, 

giggling at her own reflection 

in the depths of her reticule.

Read about Damaris Hayman here

Ned Beatty - d. June 13th 2021

You have meddled

with the primal forces 

of nature, unclothed 

a masculinity previously 

unseen but now all gone, 

steel into rust and dust, 

heading downstream.

Read about Ned Beatty here

Edward de Bono - d. June 9th 2021

This poem says not why but how

This poem says not soon but now

This poem says to learn not know 

This poem says to find not show

This poem follows no straight lines

This poem will be redesigned

Read about Edward de Bono here

Freddy Marks - d. May 27th 2021

Here’s to those like you,

grinning in bubble perms

and purple dungarees,

with nothing better to do

than paint a child’s world 

seven shades of memories.

Read about Freddy Marks here

Max Mosley - d. May 24th 2021

Your end hurtles towards you

at high-speed; unswervable as 

the legacy of your name, banal 

as a seedy hotel, its final truth

never in the public interest.

Read about Max Mosley here

 

Spencer Silver - d. May 8th 2021

You left a note to history,

stuck to screen and worktop,

read, peeled off and binned,

a few words when all's done.

Read about Spencer Silver here

Michael Collins - d. April 28th 2021

Your name is circumlunar,

from light to dark to light, 

an orbit that can never decay.

Once the loneliest human

alive, this is your final flight

to a moon lit by eternal day.

Read about Michael Collins here

Les McKeown - d. April 20th 2021

I could lament you, but why begin it?

There were still girls to have fun with,

if only for the briefest minute,

but we ran out of gangs to run with.

Bye bye to the past: there's nothing in it.

Read about Les McKeown here

Jim Steinman - d. April 19th 2021

 ...and I swear he's deader 

than the death 

of the American dream.

Yes I swear he's deader

than the death

of the American dream.

Dream!

Dream!

Deader than the death!

Deader than the death!

Death!

Death!

Death Death Death Death Death

of the American 

Dree-eee-eeam!

Read about Jim Steinman here

Peter Terson - d. April 8th 2021

I learned a trade from you;

how the dirt and melodrama

of the ugly game was nothing

to the poetry of terraces and kops.

And you really shook them up,

and we shall be, 

we shall all be moved.

Read about Peter Terson here

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