Sad news. The great B-movie cult figure, Japanese-American actress-dancer Tura Satana, has died. Satana, who inspired the Kill Bill! films, was best-known for her tight-costumed pneumatic psychopath in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, perhaps the ne plus ultra of camp schlock movie making (sexploitation). She also dated celebrities like Elvis and Sinatra, before her career took off. Later, she abandoned her bizarre and novel mix of martial arts and burlesque, and settled down to a series of Joe jobs, but was always a fan favourite. She will not be forgotten.
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.

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