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.