Jackie Mason - d. July 24th 2021

From Brooklyn to the Catskills

the laugh’s on us; hotel tills ring

and punchlines are real punches.

A rabbi steps from the wreckage

of his joke; woman looks up from

her borscht, whispers nervously

are we allowed to laugh at that?

Read about Jackie Mason here

Andy Fordham - d. July 15th 2021

Old Viking steps from a longboat,

sways, smiles, and takes aim.

He is the gentle drunken warrior,

his people baying at his back. 

Sometimes such love is enough; 

Sometimes it is too much.

Read about Andy Fordham here 

Raffaella Carrà - d. July 5th 2021

Quando dicono
canti troppo forte
ballare troppo velocemente,
mostrare troppo,
butta indietro la testa
cantare, ballare,
fare l'amore selvaggio
e fallo, fallo di nuovo.

When they say

you sing too loud,

dance too fast,

show too much,

throw back your head,

sing, dance, 

make wild love

and do it, do it again.

Read about Raffaella Carrà here

Greg Noll - d. 28th June 2021

Beyond the reef,

the last great swell 

is forming. A man,

half boat, half bull,

paddles out to meet

himself, tougher than

the wood of his board,

waxed with self-belief,

death just one more

wipeout far from shore.

Read about Greg Noll here

Richard Donner - d. July 5th 2021

From the eternal set he rises,

seven daggers in his pocket,

framing the unclean streets

comic book style, shooting

by the light of kryptonite,

and when he says action!

he means 

ACTION!

Read about Richard Donner here

Stuart Damon - d. June 29th 2021

Through your ageless hyper-eyes

I saw the world become unreal,

as despots and their regiments

were stymied by the nemesis

who senses all, whose grip is steel,

who never fails, who never dies.

Read about Stuart Damon here

Donald Rumsfeld - d. June 29th 2021

There are people we know

whom we know are dead

and people we know 

whom we do not know 

are dead

and people we do not know

whom we do not know 

are dead

but we know Donald Rumsfeld 

is dead.

Read about Donald Rumsfeld here

John McAfee - d. June 23rd 2021

I scanned my files for you

and found the following:

1 viruses - P4r4N01d

3 trojans - Liber-T, 

SpyGrass, DeathCon4, 

and malware, malware

in every baleful eye.

Read about John McAfee here

Brian London - d. June 23rd 2021

The past is an empty ring,

and that sound you hear

is the sparring of a ghost,

plying brutality as a career,

broken nose, broken heart

yet tough as Blackpool pier.

Read about Brian London here

Damaris Hayman - d. June 3rd 2021

I cast the runes this morning

and they were clear; 

death is nigh 

for the jolly Englishwoman, 

the white witch in tweeds, 

giggling at her own reflection 

in the depths of her reticule.

Read about Damaris Hayman here

Ned Beatty - d. June 13th 2021

You have meddled

with the primal forces 

of nature, unclothed 

a masculinity previously 

unseen but now all gone, 

steel into rust and dust, 

heading downstream.

Read about Ned Beatty here

Edward de Bono - d. June 9th 2021

This poem says not why but how

This poem says not soon but now

This poem says to learn not know 

This poem says to find not show

This poem follows no straight lines

This poem will be redesigned

Read about Edward de Bono here

Freddy Marks - d. May 27th 2021

Here’s to those like you,

grinning in bubble perms

and purple dungarees,

with nothing better to do

than paint a child’s world 

seven shades of memories.

Read about Freddy Marks here

Max Mosley - d. May 24th 2021

Your end hurtles towards you

at high-speed; unswervable as 

the legacy of your name, banal 

as a seedy hotel, its final truth

never in the public interest.

Read about Max Mosley here

 

Spencer Silver - d. May 8th 2021

You left a note to history,

stuck to screen and worktop,

read, peeled off and binned,

a few words when all's done.

Read about Spencer Silver here

Michael Collins - d. April 28th 2021

Your name is circumlunar,

from light to dark to light, 

an orbit that can never decay.

Once the loneliest human

alive, this is your final flight

to a moon lit by eternal day.

Read about Michael Collins here

Les McKeown - d. April 20th 2021

I could lament you, but why begin it?

There were still girls to have fun with,

if only for the briefest minute,

but we ran out of gangs to run with.

Bye bye to the past: now you are in it.

Read about Les McKeown here

Jim Steinman - d. April 19th 2021

 ...and I swear he's deader 

than the death 

of the American dream.

Yes I swear he's deader

than the death

of the American dream.

Dream!

Dream!

Deader than the death!

Deader than the death!

Death!

Death!

Death Death Death Death Death

of the American 

Dree-eee-eeam!

Read about Jim Steinman here

Peter Terson - d. April 8th 2021

I learned a trade from you;

how the dirt and melodrama

of the ugly game was nothing

to the poetry of terraces and kops.

And you really shook them up,

and we shall be, 

we shall all be moved.

Read about Peter Terson here

Helen McCrory - d. April 16th 2021

What materials: voice

like the slitting of lace,

eyes like quiet fireworks,

every glance speaking

of quiet feminine steel

and a gypsy’s curse.

Read about Helen McCrory here