Debbie Reynolds - d. December 28th 2016

Perhaps old Hollywood died 

with you; once unthinkable.

The movies that set you afloat

handbuilt a legend, unsinkable.

read about Debbie Reynolds here

Vera Rubin - d. December 25th 2016

‪

The universe has no walls‬
‪to break down, only lightless‬
‪corners to chart.‬ Yes,
‪death is a dark matter,‬
‪but science is all brightness.‬

read about Vera Rubin here

Carrie Fisher - d. December 27th 2016

Today I got a postcard 

from the edge of the universe;

Drowning in moonlight,

in need of rescue,

fresh white robes,

a kiss from a scoundrel.

read about Carrie Fisher here

Liz Smith - d. December 26th 2016

‪

D'you know 

who's dead?‬

‪Her from No.27.

‪I'm not surprised...‬

‪she liked her stout. ‬

‪They say‬

‪it was a jar 

of piccalilli‬

‪that had gone off.‬

Read about Liz Smith here

George Michael - d. December 25th 2016

Once, it was all 
bad boys, 
making rules
for fools. You got wise,
got the moves, 
but now
it's time to go-go, 
and it's us
who have to wake up.

Read about George Michael here

Rick Parfitt - d. December 24th 2016

The spectres interrupt
the final soundcheck
with some sorry news
and everyone stops
to watch you connect
those twelve bars of blues.

read about Rick Parfitt here

Zsa Zsa Gabor - d. December 18th 2016

Relax, dahlink,
you were somehow more 
than what you left behind;
all those rich lawyers,  
relieved wives,
the deposit box
brimming with diamonds.

read about Zsa Zsa Gabor here

Ian McCaskill - d. December 10th 2016

Some are gifted power

not to forecast weather

but to change it

with a voice

like scattered showers

or a smile

ushering in

an unexpected warm front

Read about Ian McCaskill here

John Glenn - d. December 8th 2016

Where are the heroes?
Nearly all gone.
The countdown has run
from seven to zero. 

Read about John Glenn here

Greg Lake - d. December 7th 2016

The curtain of style:

how quickly it descends,

only rising once in a while.

Get out while you can, my friend,

to the show that never ends.

Read about Greg Lake here

Peter Vaughan - d. December 6th 2016

There's a shadow

over the land:

you, in the clouds,

armchair, fat cigar,

shark-eyed, unsmiling 

Come in Gabriel,

got a little favour to ask.

Read about Peter Vaughan here

Andrew Sachs - d. November 23rd 2016

Your gift to us; foresight 

of a kind of heaven - 

room upon room

of disgruntled diners,

eating from a table d'hôte

with laughter for every course.

read about Andrew Sachs here

Mose Allison - d. November 15th 2016

Ever since you stole the blues

we been looking for ‘em.

-  You seen this guy?

Yeah, year or two back,

spent some time,

wrote some songs,
moved on.

Read about Mose Allison here

Leon Russell - d. November 13th 2016

Was that you jamming

with the asylum choir

down at the barrelhouse,

warming the piano stool

all night, voice like a match 

that wouldn't strike?

Read about Leon Russell here

Robert Vaughn - d. November 11th 2016

Mark this the dark day
when the rule was broken,
the hired gun misfired
and Napoleon 
met his Waterloo.

Read about Robert Vaughn here

Leonard Cohen - d. November 7th 2016

In a million bedsits, 
crumpled hearts,
friable souls
will forever call
to the bard of the bruised
to touch 
their imperfect bodies 
with his mind 

Read about Leonard Cohen here

Jimmy Young - d. November 7th 2016

At the top of the hour
comes the handover,
JY saying BFN,
the dimming 
of the On Air light,
and orft you jolly well go.

Read about Jimmy Young here

Carlos Alberto - d. October 25th 2016

I see you, O Capitão,
bombing through
on the overlap,
on legs that never tire,
in a team that never loses,
under a sun that never dims.

Read about Carlos Alberto here

Pete Burns - d. October 23rd 2016

All I know is that, to me, 
you looked like a decade
spun round, spun out,
alive, alive, alive, dead.

Read about Pete Burns here

Bobby Vee - d. October 24th 2016

I saw you 

with my thousand eyes

across the Clear Lake, crawling

from another man's wreckage.

Today you bounced 

one last time,

never came down.

Read about Bobby Vee here

Jimmy Perry - d. October 23rd 2016

We trust history 

to script itself,

but to capture

its platoons of tigers

its malarial troupers,

its faded entertainers,

we volunteered you.

read about Jimmy Perry here

Jean Alexander - d. October 14th 2016

The look

Rosa Klebb in a turban

The stance

Boadicea on a diet of nettles

The sound

A pack of feral Scouse cats

The taste

Woman, Stanley, woman

Read about Jean Alexander here

Rod Temperton - d. October 5th 2016

In the suburbs of sound
your endless groove
was always the best in town,
and if we needed to get up
you helped us get down.

Read about Rod Temperton here

Arnold Palmer - d. September 25th 2016

This poem is 
the flight of a good drive, 
the joy of a good lie,
the match dormie,
the silent gallery 
as the last putt 
drops into the cup.

Read about Arnold Palmer here

Prince Buster - d. September 8th 2016

The rudest of boys
is now ghost dancing, 
issuing his own
Ten Commandments, showing
the company of the skies
how to whine an' grine.

Read about Prince Buster here

Gene Wilder - d. August 29th 2016

You return to a place

in an imagined world

where no-one can shoot straight,

every night is opening night

and every chocolate bar

hides a golden ticket.

Read about Gene Wilder here

Brian Rix - d. August 20th 2016

A door closes

behind a departing seraph.

You burst in

through a different door,

bent halo, wings askew,

raiment round your ankles.

Read about Brian Rix here

Kenny Baker - d. August 13th 2016

In the cosmic hereafter

the voice, the face

will be your own.

Metal will become flesh,

the machine, a man.

Read about Kenny Baker here

Chiyonofuji - d. 31st July 2016

In the sumo ranks 

of the imagination

some rikishi stand 

even above yokozuna.

See, beyond 

the horizontal rope:

The Wolf in wolf's clothing.

Read about Chiyonofuji here

Marni Nixon - d. July 24th 2016

Others were feathered
by Costume
gilded by Makeup
fixed in time by the lens
but when they opened 
their mouths
it was you, it was you.

Read about Marni Nixon here

Alan Vega - d. July 16th 2016

They say
prophets go unrecognised,
particularly in New York. 
The truth?
Frankie Teardrop died
and America is still
killing its youth.

Read about Alan Vega here

Robin Hardy - d. July 2nd 2016

Where you are going
the crops do not fail,
the sun does not set.
We kept our appointment;
it is time to keep yours.

Read about Robin Hardy here

Caroline Aherne - d. July 2nd 2016

Dead my arse!
She looked alright to me
down the Feathers last week
Who's that ringing so late?
Someone at the gate
Get that will you, our Gabriel

Read about Caroline Aherne here

Gordon Murray - d. June 30th 2016

Here is the man
the Trumpton man
now lost in time
hopelessly
regrettably
fading too quickly
moving too slowly
now lost in time in Trumpton

Read about Gordon Murray here

Scotty Moore - d. June 28th 2016

Nothing was all right
without you;
shoes were not blue,
the jailhouse was cold,
we played no Creole.
There was rock, 
but no roll.

Read about Scotty Moore here

Wayne Jackson - d. June 21st 2016

You blew in, blew, blew out,
swallowed a soulfull of air,
breathed it out as funk
and stacks of unlickable licks.

Read about Wayne Jackson here

Janet Waldo - d. June 12th 2016

Hailp! Hailp!
Looks like it's too late
this time for lil ol' me.
Come now, fiendish death;
reveal your hooded claw.

Read about Janet Waldo here

Muhammad Ali - d. June 4th 2016

Oh, you pretty thing!
Show us one more time
the thunder in your hands,
the lightning in your feet,
the defiance on your lips,
the poetry of victory.

read about Muhammad Ali here

Dave Swarbrick - d. June 3rd 2016

Who knows 
where the time went?
No-one here can tell.
The fiddle goes back 
into its case;
farewell, farewell.

Read about Dave Swarbrick here

Carla Lane - d. May 31st 2016

From Scouse house

to middle class misfires, 

your tools of liberation

were nervous laughs,

weak men, soft jokes 

like the beating of tiny wings.

Read more about Carla Lane here

Burt Kwouk - d. May 24th 2016

Old Chinese proverb say
(though it could be Japanese)
No man can wear 
a million faces
but a million faces
can sometimes wear one

Read about Burt Kwouk here

Prince - d. April 21st 2016

Tonight all the skies

are purple, peach and black.

You were not so much taken

as taken back.

Read about Prince here

Victoria Wood - d. April 20th 2016

Those angels. Just look;
lacy shifts and feathers.
At their age they should 
know better. Theda Bara
meets Violet Carson.
Black? Very slimming.

Read about Victoria Wood here

Phil Sayer - d. April 14th 2016

Platform 1 

for the 

[delayed]

20.16 

Arcadia Rail 

service to 

Petersgate. 

Please 

mind the gap 

between this life

and any

which might follow.

Read about Phil Sayer here

Gareth Thomas - d. April 13th 2016

I heard rumours of death,

turned my ship 

to your last

confirmed sighting

standard by 12!

It's been 30 years

but stars don’t forget

men like you.

Read about Gareth Thomas here

Arnold Wesker - April 12th 2016

We're done with dumb,

accepting defeat,

with walking down

a no-way street, 

chips with every damn 

thing. We will come

out of the kitchen and eat.

Read about Arnold Wesker here

Merle Haggard - d. April 6th 2016

Your train is coming,
every boxcar stuffed
with lonesome fugitives
copying your style.
It slows, stops. 
One car is empty,
just for you. Climb on.

Read about Merle Haggard here

Erik Bauersfeld - d. April 4th 2016

All that may persist

of some of us

will be a single line,

incidental to the plot

yet destined

to hang in the silence

of the emptying theatre.

Read about Erik Bauersfeld here 

Zaha Hadid - d. 31st March 2016

Plans for Heaven's redesign

are in; 
interplay of glass and void,

curving at the command of steel,

remaking a skyline

in a place without sky.

Read about Zaha Hadid here