Bird and Elvis

When saxophonist Charlie 'Bird' Parker died in 1955 a Beat Poet, Ted Joans, who admired Bird, started writing in chalk on streets and sidewalks and walls, "Bird Lives." 'Even though he was prolific in personally spreading the word, hundreds of more people took charge too. 'Bird Lives' appeared everywhere in the city, from subway platforms to brownstone walls, in chalk, black crayon and even pressurized paint cans.'

When Elvis Presley died in 1977, the author Gail Brewer-Giorgio and other authors popularised the conspiracy theory that Elvis did not die and instead went into hiding. Since then, various sightings have been claimed. One conspiracy theory suggested that 'Elvis was somehow involved with the Mafia during his time as a rock star, served as an undercover agent and was found out. Thus, they believe he faked his own death to try to fool the Mafia. Some believe that Elvis attended his own 82nd birthday. An old man by the name of Bob Joyce with security guards around him, all grey hair, grey beard, sunglasses and a ball cap on, was believed by conspiracy theorists to be Elvis.'

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Bird would now be 103 and Elvis 88. It would probably be hard to recognise them in the supermarket.

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Dame Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019,  goes one step further in her wonderful collection of verse, The World's Wife,  that imagines the perceptions of the wives of famous men (Faust, Freud, Icarus ....) ...... and of Elvis's Twin Sister .......