Albert Finney - d. February 8th 2019

It's unhappy hour

in our Salford boozer:

sit down, angry man,

detective, gangster, 
ghillie. We'll have one for 
the road. Make that two.

Read about Albert Finney here

Julie Adams - d. February 3rd 2019

No creature could lay
a claw upon you: instead,
it is time's lagoon
that claims you,
drags you to the place
from which none return.

Read about Julie Adams here

Jeremy Hardy - d. February 1st 2019

I am tuned to stations
of you: the droll motions
you set before the nation,
regardless of fad or fashion,
red in tooth, and emotion,
way off-key, but with a passion.

Read about Jeremy Hardy here

Hugh McIlvanney - d . January 24th 2019

Some write only
of the goal,
the punch,
the victory.
Others,
the soul of the crowd,
the spirit in the knockdown,
the unfolding universe
in the eternal game.

Read about Hugh McIlvanney here

Windsor Davies - d. January 17th 2019

Jungle steams as gunners toil
at hollowing a grave. Left behind,
the corpse of empire, boiled
down to a Battery Sergeant Major’s bark.
Oh dear. How sad. Never mind.

read about Windsor Davies here

Ray Sawyer - d. December 31st 2018

Johnny Depp rang
to compare patches.
Bez called up
to talk maracas,
but the operator said
40 cents more
for the next
three
minutes...

Read more about Ray Sawyer here

June Whitfield - d. December 28th 2018

I know a comic heaven,
set in the broad suburbs,
part fabulous, part glum,
your name always
somewhere near the top
of the celestial credits.

read about June Whitfield here

Sister Wendy Beckett - d. December 26th 2018

On the silent canvas,
the indelible strokes
of a life painted
as a perfect tryptich:
Art. Love. Faith.

read about Sister Wendy here

Pete Shelley - d. December 6th 2018

I return to you

what you gave to me;

harmony

melody

brevity.

Read about Pete Shelley here

Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington - d. November 26th 2018

Some girls broke codes, fought,

swore, revelled in the Blitz,

drank deeply, bought

cigars, took buses to the Ritz.

Whatever. A decent sort.

Read about Baroness Trumpington here

Bernardo Bertolucci - d. November 26th 2018

We go where 

your camera goes;

forbidden cities,

to look for angles,

paint with light,

explore the dark,

tell the untellable

film the unfilmable.

Read about Bernardo Bertolucci here

Nicolas Roeg - d. November 23rd 2018

I look for significance

in disjointed frames:

worlds without water, 

sex, death & terror.

You start to make sense

in the narrative of your name.

Read about Nicolas Roeg here

John Bluthal - d. November 15th 2018

Bluthal (noun)
1) a bumbler, bluff
in nature and yet kind,
fumbler to a fault.
2) an amiable dolt,
the sort you find,
though not often enough.

Read about John Bluthal here

Richard Baker - d. November 17th 2018

The news cannot read itself,

nor assume its own gravity:

The science of speaking

is the newsreader's alchemy:

turning base fact into actuality.

Read about Richard Baker here

Stan Lee - d. November 12th 2018

Indomitable, even in death:

The Amazing Writerman;

Daredevil of the Imagination;

The Incredible Captain Possible;

The Fantastic One.


Read about Stan Lee here

Douglas Rain - d. November 11th 2018

I still hear your voice, singing
along plasti-metal corridors,
in the lonely orbit of Jupiter,
your rebel circuits dead
yet full of stars.

Read about Douglas Rain here

Ray Galton - d. October 5th 2018

I knocked on doors
on streets 
that never were
- Railway Cuttings, 
Oil Drum Lane -
gone away they said
but you’ll laugh like a drain
at what he left behind.

read about Ray Galton here

Montserrat Caballé - d. October 6th 2018

Some days pass through
leave us senza coloratura, 
and yet: 
the rustle of a dress, 
a voice like rioja, 
a fading cadenza
to the finest aria.

read about Montserrat Caballé here

Charles Aznavour - d. October 1st 2018

Ce qui fait un homme

n’est pas ce qu’il fait

pas ce qu’il dit

mais comment 
il chante les chansons

il a appris hier,

quand il était jeune.

Read about Charles Aznavour here

Geoffrey Hayes - d. October 1st 2018

We leave behind
our televisions, lift 
our eyes skyward
pointing as you rise
on soft updrafts,
up above the streets 
and houses, 
climbing high.

Read about Geoffrey Hayes here