An #Otwituary for musician #AlanOsmond
I did not choose the Seventies,
and yet it poured its light into me,
offering an Elysium in bell-bottoms,
promising summer without autumn,
a place where all the rivers are lazy
and people, like horses, are crazy.
An #Otwituary for zoologist #DesmondMorris
He writes of homo finalis, last
of the apes, up on its hind legs
yet stooping under the weight
of its own intellect. He writes
the story of a curious species,
not knowing that the last page
will be written by someone else.
@cerysmatthews.bsky.social
An #Otwituary for DJ and music lover #AndyKershaw
Today I heard a song I didn’t know I needed;
born at the frontier of music and ethnography.
Bring me real music from an unreal world,
from Rwanda to Rochdale, these curiosities
of sound, the pleasures of the unlikely groove.
An #Otwituary for #Clannad singer #MáireBrennan
If the rain owned a voice
it would sound like you.
It would settle like dew,
a shimmer of glissando,
the plainsong of a people
who still believe that music
is the cláirseach of the soul.
If you've been following Project Abeona, or you're interested in how art might work in a speculative future, don't miss this webinar tomorrow evening (the 1.30 start time is Eastern Standard Time - it's 6.30pm UK time).
The event is free but ticketed
www.eventbrite.com/e/art-space-...?
@cerysmatthews.bsky.social
An #Otwituary for singer #AshaBhosle
An earnest starlet frames the words
of a song. A voice that is not hers
melts through celluloid like a wave
of heat; the Piaf of Mumbai, a ghost
that sings through her, beyond her.
Poetry Scotland #111 - coming to a mailbox near you soon!
And you can subscribe here should you be minded to… poetryscotland.com/subscriptions/
An #Otwituary for cartoonist #GlenBaxter
There is a spectrum of the absurd
which reads like this; Kafka, Python,
Zappa, Sisyphus, Trump, Milligan,
Baxter, though tomorrow the names
will be sung in Esperanto by a dingo.
An #Otwituary for wildlife photographer #DougAllan
When the planet is saved
it will name its roll of friends,
those few who truly saw it
in its most fragile moments,
who turned their lens upon it
to show an imploring world
looking at us square in the eye.
An #Otwituary for #HipHop pioneer #AfrikaBambaataa
I mourn the rhythm but not the man,
wondering how such unforgiving beats
could spring from one so unforgivable.
Yes, there is a corner of the dance floor
saved for you, but no-one dances there.
Don't miss our Lapidus Scotland Budding Writers series - 20 Workshops on 20 days in May. Pay what you can afford and come to all 20, or just a few...it's up to you!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/budding-wr...?
Double Dactyl of the Week got into the Easter spirit...thanks to Mandy Macdonald...
doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2026/04/05/d...
An update from #ProjectAbeona - Dr Aimee Norton talks #panspermia in Newsletter #00009. Life as we know it may end on Planet Earth...but is that where it began?
projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/project-ab...
Transmission #45 from Project Abeona returns to Simon Barraclough's 'Incarcecernaut' for a progress report. And it's getting tougher out there...
projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/transmissi...
From Lapidus Scotland from 1st-20th May, 'Budding Writers' - 20 short online writing workshops focusing on wellbeing and creativity.
Open to anyone, but limited places. Pay what you can afford and come to as many sessions as you like. Sign up here:
www.eventbrite.com/e/budding-wr...?
#DoubleDactyl of the week is a bit of a mystery - who is that face in the mirror crack'd from side to side? Sian Lang thinks she knows...
An #Otwituary for 1960s Olympian #MaryRand
The jump is all we ever know;
the run-up of youth, building
speed for our stadium days,
the explosion into the air of
our prime, then the descent,
the hope we might all leave
our impression in the sand.
One Drop 22 has dropped, and if you're a fan of Black Uhuru you're going to like this one. Go here for some great footage of the band and a superb poem from Peter Raynard.
onedroppoetry.substack.com/p/one-drop-t...
An #Otwituary for Hollywood actor #ValeriePerrine
The camera loves those who deal
in damage; wives wed to madness,
showgirls who smile to reveal just
how broken they are, who play a role
only to find the role is playing them.
Transmission #44 from Project Abeona has arrived as a silken thread spun from the near future, via Pippa Goldschmitt.
projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/transmissi...
An #Otwituary for broadcaster #JenniMurray
When the hour is up, you will not need
these words to validate you. Besides,
it does not take an hour to show that
a safe space is not safe until everyone
finds their space, and everyone is safe.
An #Otwituary for actor #ChuckNorris
I know facts about Chuck Norris:
they invented a new colour for him
for a belt beyond black; even when
he played a bad guy he was good;
all his movies were really about him.
An #Otwituary for actor #TomGeorgeson
Among the angst and anger of a nation
in decline was the ubiquitous Scouser;
weary, resigned, speaking the life of a
worried man, waiting for a punch from
above to knock you into the next scene.
An #Otwituary for novelist #LenDeighton
They are holding a funeral
for an insubordinate spy;
somewhere cold and damp,
where a seedy war rages
in the shadows. A man in
NHS glasses drafts a final
report, for our eyes only.
#DoubleDactyl of the Week is something of a mystery…
An #Otwituary for actor #JaneLapotaire
There is a silence in the wings, then
the boards creak, bearing the weight
of an entrance. The first line is spoken
in a voice rustling like stage curtains,
billowing out into breathless theatre.
An #Otwituary for musician and activist #CountryJoeMcDonald
And it’s 1-2-3, what were you fighting for?
The music of sanity in an insane world.
And it’s 5-6-7, open up the pearly gates;
the lost patrol of the counterculture is here,
sounding off one-two in furious ragtime.
