Sad news to start 2011. Major British actor and activist, Pete Postlethwaite, has died. Although a TV and stage actor beforehand, he became world famous 18 years ago, in 1993, when he appeared in In The Name of the Father, the role which got him Oscar-nominated for a profoundly-moving part. He then cemented his position as one of the most astonishing and refreshing new onscreen faces of the Nineties, with great parts in big crowd-pleasers The Usual Suspects and Romeo + Juliet. He also marched against the war in Iraq. He also appeared in several big-budget sci-fi/horror flicks, like The Lost World (a Spielberg sequel), The Omen (remake), and a top film of 2010, Inception. He could pull off any role and make any movie he was in cooler and yet more authentic by his presence, which screamed nonchalant-gritty integrity. No one looked or acted like Postlethwaite - he was a great original and will be much missed.
A poem for my mother, July 15 When she was dying And I was in a different country I dreamt I was there with her Flying over the ocean very quickly, And arriving in the room like a dream And I was a dream, but the meaning was more Than a dream has – it was a moving over time And land, over water, to get love across Fast enough, to be there, before she died, To lean over the small, huddled figure, In the dark, and without bothering her Even with apologies, and be a kiss in the air, A dream of a kiss, or even less, the thought of one, And when I woke, none of this had happened, She was still far distant, and we had not spoken.

Comments