Nicky Tesco - d. February 25th 2022

 

I remember seeing you standing 

at your bedroom window,

looking out at the night,

half-smothered by suburbia.

Hey Nicky! Whatever it was 

you were listening to,

there’s nothing left.

Henry Lincoln - d. February 24th 2022

Who were you? I found a trace 

in a secret dossier, between 

discourse and disbelief,

con-trick and conspiracy,

between history and heresy,

holy blood and Hollywood.

Read about Henry Lincoln here

John Landy - d. February 24th 2022

While the deathless breast the tape,

perpetually triumphant, others pursue

only themselves, stopping mid-race

to offer a hand to the faller, the clock

frozen in their Corinthian moment.

Read about John Landy here

Anna Karen - d. February 22nd 2022

The Seventies cost a woman's fare

on buses driven by men, for men.

The journey wasn't pretty, but now

this bus stops on demand for those 

who refuse to hide beneath a wig, 

or squint through pairs of old glasses.

Read about Anna Karen here

Mark Lanegan - d. February 22nd 2022

There is a strain of wild

that few can truly sing.

It stretches across 

a full ten octaves, from 

the bass register of pain

through defiant howl,

up the scales to chaos.

Read about Mark Lanegan

Gary Brooker - d. February 19th 2022

Beyond these things, you and Bach 

are jamming, arguing over chords.

There were other songs, yes, but 

though my ears were open to them, 

they might just as well have been closed.

Read about Gary Brooker here

Bob Wall - d. January 30th 2022

Enter the blackhat bull

in white keikogi,

playing rage 

to the hero’s poise,

block, fist, elbow,

then a flash of fury

like broken glass.

Read about Bob Wall here

Jack Smethurst - d. February 16th 2022

Different times, they say;

we neighbours now share

one house, the walls paper-thin,

and even those who wrote you

into infamy must know 

by now, what we laugh at

is not what we laugh with.

Read about Jack Smethurst here

Sandy Nelson - d. February 14th 2022

All the world's a snare

and you just a brief roll

on a store-bought kit, 

but oh, my daddy said, 

quite a beat.

Read about Sandy Nelson

P.J. O'Rourke - d. February 15th 2022

You wrote America like 

a doctor examining a patient;

Does this hurt? 

What about this?

I put down your book, bruised,

partly from needle-sharp prods, 

mostly from cramps of laughter.

Read about P. J. O'Rourke here

Betty Davis - d. February 9th 2022

They say you were different:

different like salt in the sugar;

different like forty flavours of funk;

different like look me in the eye

and tell me just exactly 

what 

you're

gonna 

do 

to

me.

Read about Betty Davis here

Douglas Trumbull - d. February 7th 2022

I made spacefall 

on a scratchbuilt moon,

home to the last forest, 

assembled from singular

imagination. A man

is there, making a new sky,

a drone and a replicant

by his side.

Read about Douglas Trumbull here

Bamber Gascoigne - d. February 8th 2022

Your bonuses are on immortality;

Which quiz host was described

as erudition without pomposity,

urgency without contumely,

charm without affectation?

I'll have to hurry you.

Read about Bamber Gascoigne here

Jo Kendall - d. January 29th 2022

Funny is funny is funny;

it is a woman in man's clothes,

speaking in all voices but her own,

in silly sketches that are not sorry,

that read themselves, again and again. 

Read about Jo Kendall here

Monica Vitti - d. February 2nd 2022

Ho visto un mondo esotico

negli occhi freddi di una ragazza

senza espressione, immobile.

Al di là del suo freddo sensuale,

oltre la modesta avventura

è un deserto rosso di risate.

I saw an exotic world

in the cool eyes of a girl

without expression, still.

Beyond her sensual chill,

beyond modest adventure 

is a red desert of laughter.

Read about Monica Vitti here