April
written by: Kirstin Maguire
@KMaguirePoetry
By this point, we were reeling at how many celebrities we had lost
We’re Losing The Heroes
First Bowie, then Haggard, now it’s Prince,
2016, come on, what is this?
Alan Rickman, Phife Dawg, Victoria Wood.
Even Lemmy and Wogan gone, it’s only good
Byes to the names we’ve known a lifetime.
We’re not halfway through yet, I wanna call Time-
Out on this hollow state of affairs,
Before another newsreel with a photo declares
A treasure is gone,
And time’s marching on.
Feel the rattling chains of the ol’ Grim Reaper,
Well rack ’em up again, this year’s getting deeper
Lads, we need a tribute here.
No words fathomed, just a nod with the beer
Bottles jangling the air
Of another lost time of a rare soul that dared
To step out of the mould, shake it up and shine,
And by being themselves said “Ya know what, we’re fine.”
But what do we do when the heroes are gone?
Re-watch the old shows, strum chords of their songs?
Every one of them the voice of a generation,
No wise words here, no wild proclamations.
But they’re the sounds we grew up with,
The stand-outs and laugh-hards and getting on with it.
From CDs, DVDs and old YouTube links,
And sudden nostalgia of hyperlinks.
The shoulders of giants we’ve been standing on,
Gone like mortal-jenga, too many swan-songs.
And names of heroes we’ve memorised
Live on in the gut in times we’re surprised
That despite the years, we know every line,
Clearing cobwebs off mind’s old road signs.
Well life is short, so I’ll make this the same,
Hold on to your heroes, dance wild in their name.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Poetry from a current affairs based chapbook called ‘Poetry Press: This Was 2016’
Published in numerous literary magazines, her debut collection 'Sketch A Day Poetry' was published by Alba and released in February 2016. Her follow-up current affairs chapbook 'Poetry Press: This Was 2016' will be released in December 2016.
- Interview With Kirstin Maguire - May 9, 2017
- October - March 30, 2017
- June - March 16, 2017
