Second Edit: For a Radical, Long Dead/For Dawn Fraser, a Radical

[just mercedes]

For a Radical, Long Dead

I
My dear dead poet,
you would be more important
if you were
an ancient red vase. This made me think of Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Then people would ponder your cracks,
debate the significance of your colour,
and label you an artifact. I like the cracks/artifact rhyme
II
You chose the losing side. 'The losing side' makes me think of Byron. 
So now, on dusty shelves,
in boxes at garage sales,
next to cookbooks at thrift stores, I like this imagery - poetry being food for the soul
your verse sleeps.

A second death,
the worse way time can punish a person. I don't think this couplet is needed - it 'says' what the preceding stanza 'shows'.

III
Oh capital, I'm unsure whether 'Oh capital' is acknowledging a joke, or referring to money, assets
he would think you the new devil, Is this 'he' the personification of time? Unclear.
pricing souls and convincing others
of your necessity.

Oh capital, This repeat doesn't work for me, not knowing what it refers to.
the victor of a war,
long lost.

Oh capital,
invisible monster
that chased me from my home. Is the dead poet now speaking? Or the narrator? Unclear.

Part III doesn't seem to fit with I and II. 'Oh capital' seems to refer to something - the only trace I could find of the phrase is here, and I don't think that's it!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqam_VQPY-c