Coolio - d. September 28th 2022

Not many gangstas in my hood,

and yet you gave this boy a taste

of paradise - like hell with beats.

I take a look at my life and realise

there's not much left, though I’d be

dead as a shadow on your streets.

Read about Coolio here

Hilary Mantel - d. September 22nd 2022

I drink to literature as an ear,

eavesdropping in the dark.

I drink to literature as an eye,

sharpening what is vague.

I drink to literature as a hand,

overpainting the faded.

I drink to the past as a present.

Read about Hilary Mantel here

Eddie Butler - d. September 15th 2022

This will be the final phase;

no time now for rolling maul,

but a cool head, a tap-and-go,

Yet here's a voice to take the ball,

sure as the Pontypool Front Row

or the whistle blown at end of play.

Read about Eddie Butler here

Jean-Luc Godard - d. September 13th 2022

This is a story of narrative

told out of order, a camera 

for a pen. The story cannot 

breathe for itself; it requires

the breath of an outsider, 

an eye that edits as it shoots, 

a new vocabulary of telling.

Ceci est une histoire de narration

dit dans le mauvais ordre, une caméra

pour un stylo. L'histoire ne peut

respirer pour lui-même; cela requiert

le souffle d'un étranger,

un œil qui édite en même temps qu'il tire,

un nouveau vocabulaire de la narration.

Read about Jean-Luc Godard here

Gwyneth Powell - d. September 8th 2022

A small body is lain 

across a catafalque 

of school-desks. 

Chalk like incense settles 

on every surface. 

A school bell tolls the hours. 

Term is over, 

but I cannot bring myself

to go home.

Read about Gwyneth Powell here

Frank Drake - d. September 2nd 2022

N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L

R∗ = the rate of geniuses in the population

fp = the fraction of those with something to say

ne = the average number of minds that care

fl = the fraction of those that understand

fi = the fraction of those that appreciate

fc = the fraction of those that celebrate

L = the length of a poem that does so

Read about Frank Drake here

Mark Shreeve - d. August 31st 2022

We are all circuitry.

Pass voltage through us;

do we not oscillate?

In the end, everything 

is analogue, and death 

just a higher harmonic.

Read about Mark Shreeve here

Bill Turnbull - d. August 31st 2022

The world has want of warmth 

these days, and we have to take it 

where we find it. I fire up 

the morning coffee, the telly.

The sofa is dented where a man

once sat, a halo of bees buzzing,

lost now under the studio lights.

Read about Bill Turnbull here