A Tribute to Julie Boston
1934 -2022
It was Julie's idea to meet at Café Unlimited to celebrate International Women's Day with poetry in March 2005, and it was also her idea to make it a regular monthly event.
She, very deftly, delegated others to organise this, but continued to keep us all on a tight rein; no time was to be wasted on chit chat, and she would often remind us we were here to read poetry aloud.
Julie preferred brevity in a poem also and championed a 3 minute limit to each poem. She loved the 'slam' format and was an advocate of bringing poetry to everyone, young and old.
Julie remained a stalwart attendee of Poetry Unlimited right up to October 2022, she will be very much missed.
D.L.
At our monthly Poetry Unlimited sessions, we always have a theme set at the end of each session for the next one. Julie had set the one for November. It was “forlorn hope”.**
The news about Julie
To have the idea of “forlorn hope”
With, as it turns out,
No hope of writing about it
Is a tragic irony
A heart attack strong enough
To stop you in your track
And now you lie
In the BRI
Your recovery a forlorn hope
But if anyone could come back
From a fatal heart attack
It is you, Julie
It is you
Coda
Indomitable to the end
Like a magnificent ship
You ploughed the waters
True to your causes
No shoals or reefs
Could divert you from
The course of your own beliefs
Written by David C Johnson © 27th October/3rd November 2022
*Julie Boston died at home on 28th October 2022 about a week after her heart attack
**Up until at least 1949, there existed the Forlorn Hope Estate of houses which had been built on the site of a 17th century “pest-house”. A place where people who had contracted the plague were sent to either die or recover. It was a kind of isolation hospital, although patients were unlikely to exit breathing.
Goodbye to a Friend in tribute on the passing of Julie Boston
I heard about your illness
The attack upon your heart
I thought I’d write a message
But I don’t know where to start
You were funny, you were kind
You looked out for me when I felt left behind
You were bossy, you were strong
You were right when all around you were wrong
You’ll be missed Julie, more than you know
The world is all the poorer now you’ve had to go
Sleep with the angels now and when your rest is through
We’ll shed our tears, we’ll read your words, we’ll say your lines
Just for three minutes, as you taught us Julie, that’ll do.
Angela Brooks 2022
Julie
Never having known how old she was I was dumbstruck when I found out.
Still such energy, still such empathy,
Still such passion for right trumping wrong.
Such a born leader and still such a fighter on behalf of those left behind.
At the last Poetry Unlimited Session she read the poem,
“The Peasants Revolt” and with such passion.
We co-revolted each step of the three minute rule...
One month later and she was gone,
and we, bereft, spoke of nothing but Julie.
No one remembered the prescribed subject though,
in fact, it was Julie who chose it.
“Forlorn Hope” she’d said.
It's a forlorn hope that we'll see her like again.
Rest in peace Julie.
Sandie Lloyd Nov 2022