More Honorable Mentions from Week 591 of The Style Invitational, poems about those who died in 2004:
Yasser Arafat:
(Bob Staake - For The Washington Post)
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Yasser's powers must still be legion,
Who else's death might save a region? (Steve Ettinger, Chevy Chase)
Marlon Brando:
Marlon, you were one stud, fella',
Callin' out for your dear Stella.
But you really lost your aura
Callin' out for Stella Dora. (Roy Ashley, Washington)
Francis Crick:
After 88 years his body's gone flaccid,
But we still got his deoxyribonucleic acid. (Craig Pelz, Denver)
Jacques Derrida
Old Derrida was dea(le)d a hand
That took him from our go(o)dly land.
His work pa(ren)thetical some may still mock,
But post-mo(der)nism must now be post-Jacques. (Seth Brown, No(rth) (A)dam(s) (M)ass.)
Bob Keeshan:
Dear departed Kangaroo,
On your program up we grew,
Kind to kids, not once a grouch,
From the day you left the pouch. (Dave Zarrow, Herndon)
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross:
Each Sunday when I turn to Style,
My first reaction's oft denial.
Then staring at the second page,
My feelings quickly turn to rage.
Was there a problem with my jargon?
(How many T-shirts should I bargain
With the Empress to get an Inker?)
Depressed my entry was such a stinker,
I finally, heeding Kubler-Ross,
Reluctantly accept my loss. (Jack Cackler, Falls Church)
Russ Meyer
Traditional heaven has angels in gowns,
playing harps as they sit on cloud crests.
But in Russ Meyer's heaven, the angels are nude
and endowed with magnificent breasts. (John Shea, Lansdowne, Pa.)
"Madge the Manicurist" Jan Miner
You're motionless.
We're lotionless. (Tom Witte, Montgomery Village)
O.D.B., self-styled bitch-slapper,
Caught a beatdown from the Grim Rapper. (Mark Eckenwiler, Washington)
Theo van Gogh
In the land of weed and ho,
Lived a great-great-nephew of van Gogh.
He made a film about the lives
Of Muslims who abuse their wives.
This got him stabbed; he fell and died.
"A senseless crime!" a nation cried.
Still, his final words, "Hyawhack khawkhuuuhkh,"
At last show us how to say "van Gogh."
(Landon Gildar, Amsterdam)
Although it seemed different
You must understand:
Fay Wray had that ape
In the palm of her hand. (Judith Cottrill, New York)
Rick James, Christopher Reeve, Ron O'Neal
We lost Super Freak, Superman and Superfly
2004: The year of the Super Die. (Russell Beland, Springfield)
And Last:
Down three games, winning four in a row;
There cannot be anything worse;
To the Series the Sox would go;
This Yankees fan mourns for the Curse.
(Stephen Gaull, Arlington)
