2020 R.I.P. Part Two

Witty, wise, completely iconic
RBG’s demise so deeply ironic
She loved equal rights, the Constitution
But God just delights in retribution

Because race held her back again and again
And the deck was stacked by the world of men
Emma Amos – all activism and art
Just no way she could keep them apart

The founder of “Hairy Who”, Suellen Rocca
Her art I barely new – I didn’t know of
How her phantasmagoric work stole every show
(Irreverent! autobiographic!) – irked those in the know

Lina Ben Mhenni blogged as “The Tunsian Girl”
Lent a hand to befog the modern Mideastern world
Her words widely heard she did not spare the king
The world rightly stirred by the late Arab Spring

“Our greatest resource? The intellect of the poor”
Leila Janah, entrepreneur who did more
Than alleviate misery – she paid more than a living wage
But gave them days of dignity and a place upon the stage

Harriet Frank wrote scripts that were literate
Not a mean trick if you consider it –
A Rocky Stallone sequel was the order of the day
She stood alone – no equal to her Norma Rae

Frieda Caplan enlivened the produce aisle
(a sentiment designed to produce a smile
A life in a phrase is so breezy a notion
But she did spend her days in kiwi promotion)

A summary succinct, concise, complete
For me I think, my demise won’t compete:
“Ordinary and in debt due to Amazon Prime
But was fairly adept at imagining rhyme “

Lisel Mueller Pulitzer poet: “Alive Together”
What lies below our “How is the weather?”
She “placed grief in the mouth of language”
Without art, loss and anguish would languish

Katherine Johnson – a NASA “hidden figure”
race/gender toxin no match for God-given rigor
She slipped Jim Crow not a moment too soon
Or the crew of Apollo would still circle the moon

Mamie Kirkland, witness to racial terror
Spent a life working so we remain aware her
Father fled the rope but his friend heard the cheers
There were postcards of the hanging and other souvenirs

One hundred eleven, when she died, she’d spent so much time
Remembering what’s denied: state-sanctioned crime
her family she raised selling Avon door to door
And could finally say “I’m not frightened anymore”

At first, she wrote for Patsy, Loretta, Kitty Wells
then Jan Howard sang her own songs like no one else
“Marriage has ruined more good love affairs”
She was heartbreak fluent, she’d often been there

Back when women weren’t supposed to leave the nest
She played with the best, Ella and the rest
She beat a path – jazz rhythm precision
Tireless advocate for women musicians

When she was called the female Gene Krupa, “That’s myth”
she said, “Gene Krupa was the male Viola Smith.”

In fallacious modesty Betty Dodson saw oppression
“Outrageous honesty” was Gloria Steinem’s impression
If you want your senses whirled beyond all measure
“Better orgasms better world” – come with self pleasure

At a century Marge Champion still entranced
She endured tragedy, gravity and still she danced
Wildly imaginative infinitely meticulous
Her body broke down still she lifted us

Red-haired Queen of Technicolor, the best parts they wouldn’t give her
Eyes of green, the studio loved her for her all-American come hither
Looking back Rhonda Fleming was asked, was there a part she was perfect for?
“Oh my yes”, she laughed, “A Jurassic Park dinosaur”

I’m embarrassed to say Diane di Prima is new to me
Perhaps gender is why she eluded close scrutiny
I wonder the response if Kerouac were dickless
“‘On the Road’, come on, you can just stick this…”

Inspired by Keats as a teen, then got all Bohemian
One of the Beats, mostly unseen, then got all free of them
San Francisco, Poet Laureate, activist at the edge
The wisdom that informed her story was her grandmother Antoinette’s
Who taught her it’s essential to choose the power of the pen
And of “the specialness and the relative uselessness of men.”

Silvery soprano Erin Hall succumbed to cancer
44 – so young to fall oh if only someone could answer
why deprive us of a velvet voice – it’s insanity and bizarre
God could have made another choice: Hannity or Barr

Though often derided she’d swear to their virtues
Eleanor Jacobs ignited the era of earth shoes
My girlfriend had a pair – counter culture convention
But that wasn’t the pair that caught my attention

When it comes to coming, women don’t need men
That hardly comes as stunning but it was way back when
A researcher did arrive at such and thus did Shere Hite
suggest that women could thrive on touch (and could do it right)

Males understand the clitoris (a fallacy that lingers)
Defensive in our ignorance, Hite was pointing fingers
The Church and fragile guys drove her to Europe’s door
America relies on facile lies – we’re still virgin/whore

Pop queen of the 70s, she took the stage at four
Later came obscene enmity, rage – what for?
many men incensed by her and just what lay in store
when girls were meant to purr she sang “Hear me roar”

When Frank Sinatra bled “My Way” with his toxic swagger
No one said “not OK” but her, “Good God, we got to gag her!”
She did not fit a category, not a Veronica nor a Betty
She had no quit is the story of “I am Woman” Helen Reddy

Dominican nun lawbreaker – her banner unfurled
“Oh God, help us to be peacemakers in a hostile world.”
Ardeth Platte, a Christian pacifist, brought attention to nuclear war
A question we should ask is, why aren’t we doing more?

Where we’re headed for from birth – it comes too soon
The umbilical cord of the earth is the moon
That we are alone and apart oh that is just an illusion
The tone of the art of Lucia Hurtardo elegant inclusion

Black, trans woman, she said it seemed she had to be
“The largest live-singing drag queen in captivity”
But a sweet “Mother hen” to everyone who knew her
Nearly 6’10, Lady Red Couture

Women’s studies architect Florence Howe
Founded the Feminist Press – crucial to NOW
Alice Walker, Willa Cather, Hurston, Pussy Riot
Some men would have rather they just kept quiet

Mary Higgins Clark had willing shilling apostles
Who thrilled to the dark of her one billion novels
Filled with the villainous who could do the worst
Though nothing libidinous and nobody cursed

They were vile, vicious, malicious but Lucille was calm
Not a surprise to Ruby Bridges – that was just Mom
Amidst the callous, cruel, she did not run for cover
But simply walked to school, oh this nation needs a mother

Another place, another world, that distant bitter past
No racist flag would now unfurl, ignorance cannot last
Misogyny, abuse, homophobia? Those are so done
I mean it’s not like some dystopia, it’s 2021!

It’s not the middle ages with all that endless violence
No plague amongst us rages because we follow science
If anything it’s the Renaissance, and that calls for a cathedral
Something that is an apt response to honor us as people

Who are traumatized, exhausted, dread is ever near
Agitated and accosted by our daily bread of fear
And yet we rise day after day, cloudy skies above
And in our way, each we pray, teach me how to love

I was not terse but now this verse I finally lay aside
That was a lot and I almost forgot…some guys may have died

Denny Caraher

All of the above has been inspired by the great obituary writers at the New York Times.

dcaraher@gmail.com