Janice Long - d. December 25th 2021

We spent so many nights together,

two conspirators plotting via ether,

you spinning me to my own revolution,

me in awe of each sonic revelation.

In the darkness, a voice. Is that you?

I like this one. You might like it too.

Read about Janice Long here

Desmond Tutu - d. December 26th 2021

True strength is kindness,

beyond evil and its noise,

to form a better argument,

not just to raise your voice,

to know that forgiveness

is a grace and not a choice.

Read about Desmond Tutu here

Sally Ann Howes - d. December 19th 2021

I knew your look, your voice,

before and beyond the adult

I reluctantly became, and yet

even now my heart beats 

so unruly at the possibilities 

of love, song and silly stories.

Read about Sally Ann Howes here

Thomas ‘Mensi’ Mensforth - d. December 10th 2021

Give me the honest upstart

who lives what others only sing,

who knows the fascists in town

and calls them out. It isn’t art

but it’s a start, to shout a warning,

in song and not be shouted down.

Read about Mensi and the Angelic Upstarts here

Anne Rice - d. December 11th 2021

Like all your species,

you smelled the fears

that filled our veins.

You alone wrote them

in a haemovore's hand,

humanised the inhuman,

breathed pity into undeath.

Read about Anne Rice here

Mike Nesmith - d. December 10th 2021

All men must have someone,

have someone to pretend to be,

someone deep in the shallows,

someone quiet amid the hoopla,

someone tender in a tapioca world.

Read about Mike Nesmith here

Robbie Shakespeare - d. December 8th 2021

Every cloud shakes: no speaker is safe

And no blues party bluer. A bass rumble

Deeper than Dawkins Pond tells the people:

God's riddim section is mashing up Babylon.

Read about Robbie Shakespeare here

Steve Bronski - d. December 9th 2021

A train is coming, clanking

out a perfect beat, stopping 

at even the smallest towns.

A young man steps aboard,

cheap synth under his arm,

looks for a seat. He's come

so far, but still so far to go.

Read about Bronski Beat here