Friday 5 October 2007

Childe Tom to the Dark Tower Came

MARCH
Basil Bunting and the Morden Tower



BASIL CHEESEMAN BUNTING (Poet) Born on this day in 1900
‘A poet is just a poet,but I am a Northumbrian man. It has always been my home even when I’ve been living elsewhere’
Basil Bunting, Out Loud, The Listener 94 28th August 1975)

1913 First visit to ‘Briggflatts
1923 In Paris
1924 Visits Ezra Pound in Rapallo
1925 ‘Villon’ his first long poem much admired by Pound and T.S.Eliot
1927 Music Critic for ‘The Outlook’ and ‘The Town Crier’
1929 Meets W.B.Yeats
1930 ‘Redimiculum Matellarum’ First pamphlet published
1940 Joins RAF
1948 Meets Sima Alladadian marries December 2nd.
1950 POEMS 1950 published by Cleaners Press, Texas.
1954 Sub Editor on Newcastle Daily Journal
1957 Working on Necastle Evening Chronicle
1963 Meets Jonathan Williams.
1964 June, Tom Pickard phones.
1965 ‘The Spoils’ Morden Tower Pamphlet
‘Briggflatts’ , ‘First Book of Odes’ (Fulcrum Press)
1966 Arts Council Bursary
1968 16th August ‘Descant on Rawley’s Madrigal’ conversations with Jonathan
Williams published.
!968 - 70 Northern Arts Literary Fellow
1972 President of the Poetry Society
1976 Editor ‘Selected Poems of Joseph Skipsey’ (Ceolfrith)
1978 ‘Collected Poems (OUP)
1985 Dies in Hexham General Hospital.


‘Basil was a great friend to budding poets and gave me incredible encouragement. He was so vigorous and agile, we thought he must have made some pact so as not to die...we thought he was immortal’ Tom Pickard

such syllables flicker out of grass
‘What beckons goes;’ and no glide lasts
nor wings are ever in even beat long
A male season, with paeonies; buds bright under thorn.

Basil Bunting, Complete Poems, Bloodaxe Books, 2000
www.bloodaxebooks.com


‘Such syllables flicker out of grass’ from MS in Durham University Library

Website for Basil Bunting Centre
http://www.dur.ac.uk/basil_bunting_poetry.centre/index.html


MORDEN TOWER
Morden Tower stands on Newcastle’s West Walls. It was built in about 1280. In 1620
another storey was added to the tower by the Company of Plumbers, Plasterers and Glaziers. This forms the poetry reading room of today.
In 1964 Connie and Tom Pickard organised the first readings. Basil Bunting thought it might last a couple of years, it outlasted him and still carries on to this day. The Decor of the place has improved with carpets and chairs instead of floorboards and bottoms. Electricity instead of gas lights and /or candles.

‘We can swing together, we can have a wee wee
we can have a wet on the walls’
Fog on the Tyne by Alan Hull 1972

In 2002 after swinging together for 28 years a toilet was added to the Tower compliments of Hanro Ltd.

ALAN HULL
'The Mocking Horse 'Poems' (Spice)
(excerpt from the stock of Abe's books)
Alan Hull was born on the banks of the Tyne . He grew up , went to school and made his life in the raw , rough atmosphere of Newcastle and , like all Geordies , he has a strenght of character , and culture , and a pride in his heritage that is as fierce and as gritty as the physical surroundings that bred it. His musical life grew from the clube and pubs in Newcastle - first as a solo singer and songwriter and then linking with another local blues group to form Lindisfarne. These poems - collected together over the years reflect his experiences as a Geordie , as a nurse in a mental hospital , and in the sewers of the music industry. He is also a talented artist. 37 poems , with several pieces of artwork in 64 pages. The white cover has a small stain to the lower edge of the front cover, are a little edge worn and the book has a ' dusty ' look. The covers are not creased, and the cover shows a portrait ' La Lampe Philosophique " by R. Magritte 1973. ( Alan Hull ? - with an extended nose reaching into a tobacco pipe beside a lighted candle that curls it's way down a wooden candle holder. ) An excellent poetry and art book.


After Tom and Connie Pickard
Tower organisers have included David Westerley, Richard Caddell, George Charlton, Nick Baumfield, John Byrne, Bob Lawson, Neil Astley, Michael Blackburn, Sandy Anderson, Peter Bennet, Brendan Cleary, Paul Summers, as well as others who have assisted Connie over the years .Connie Pickard is in charge of the Tower once again.

On the 16th June 1964 (Bloomsday, although they didn’t know it then)
Pete Brown did the very first reading followed by Basil Bunting a few weeks later who had not read for many years.
‘Bloomsday’
The Morden Tower’s first reading was held on ‘Bloomsday’. Hence the very special connection that is held with June the 16th by the people who run the Tower.
Every Year since 1954 fans of James Joyce have celebrated ‘Bloomsday. The date in 1904 when his book ‘Ulysses’ takes place. (In 1924 the word was used by friends of Joyce who would present the author with a bouquet)In many cities attempts are made to read the entire book out loud. In Dublin tourists in fancy dress retrace the routes of Joyce’s characters.
For Joyce the significance of 16th June 1904 was that at about that time he had his first ‘date’ with Nora Barnacle, a chambermaid he’d met on June 10th
You can get Bloomsday cards in Ireland and there is even a sandwich named after it.
There is a rumour that Nora Barnacle ‘deflowered’ Joyce on that very day. Although this is denied by leading Joycean authorities.

www.robotwisdom.com/jaj/ulysses/bloomsday.html

‘I really believe the warm reception the youngsters at the Tower gave to ‘Chomei’, ‘Villon’ and others stimulated him into restarting’ Connie Pickard (High on the Walls) Bloodaxe/Morden Tower 1990.

Various magazines that appeared around the Tower
King Ida’s Watch Chain : only one issue appeared dedicated to Basil Bunting’s work. Editors Connie and Tom Pickard.Eruption : a magazine, Edited by Roy Robertson, Tom Pickard and Tony Jackson.

THOTH - A Morden Tower Anthology 1977
Edited by Neil Astley. 50p.
Poets included Ivor cutler, Lee Harwood, NormanMacCaig, Roger McGough, Wes Magee, Stephen Spender, Anne Stevenson, R.S.Thomas, Barry Hines, Jon Silkin and Fleur Adcock amongst others.



MORDEN TOWER; Some poets who have read at the tower

Hugh McDiarmid, Basil Bunting, Pete Brown, Robert Creeley, Ed Dorn, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Pickard, Barry MacSweeney, Fleur Adcock, Jonathan Williams, Gael Turnbull, Brendan Cleary, Linda France, Julia Darling, Aiden Andrew Dun, Adam Fish, Ivor Cutler, Ally May, Matthew Sweeney, Anne Stevenson, Ken Smith, Carol Rumens, Jon Silkin, Ric Hool, Mike Dillon, Sean O’Brien, W.N.Herbert, Jeff Nuttall,
Henry Normal, Adrian Mitchell, William Martin, Ian McMillan, Norman MacCaig,
Liz Lochhead, Tom Leonard, Bob Shields, Richard Kell, Anselm Hollo,
Seamus Heaney, Lee Harwood, Tony Curtis, Bob Cobbing, Bill Griffiths, Matthew Caley, Peter Armstrong, Gillian Allnutt, Kevin Cadwallender, Alec Finlay, Roy Fisher, Neil Astley, Peter Mortimer, Bob Cooper, Andy Croft, Arjen Duinker, Nancy Somerville, David Meltzer, Michael Standen, S.J.Litherland. Carol Ann Duffy, Stevie Smith, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Christopher Logue, Geoffrey Hill, Jack Mapanje, Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze, Tom Paulin, Sir Stephen Spender, Hamish Henderson, John Hegley, Julie Felix, Nell Dunn, Melvyn Bragg, Alan Hull, Herbert Read. Emma MacGordon, Jacob Polley,

The list could go on for several pages. I think you get the idea!

http://www.mordentower.com/
High on the Walls An Anthology : Ed:Gordon Brown Morden Tower/Bloodaxe 1990
Gordon Brown (1925-2000), loyal supporter of Basil Bunting, Morden Tower and all poetry in the NorthEast.

Morden Tower hosted the first European reading of
‘The Kaddish’ by Allen Ginsberg and ‘The Gunslinger’ by Ed Dorn

‘Tom Pickard and his wife Connie were instrumental in bringing about the Newcastle poetry revival of the mid-1960’s and the 1970’s.’
from Richard Caddell and Anthony Flowers BASIL BUNTING a Northern Life. 1997

‘I think because of Basil’s (Bunting)presence we were able to attract many good american poets to give readings in the tower’
Tom Pickard 1979 ‘Serving my time to a trade’ Paideuma 1980.

‘Morden Tower is the most exciting place I have ever read poems’ Liz Lochhead.

‘There’s a theory that emotion is imprinted on walls like music on vinyl. If this is so, the walls of the Morden Tower must bear one of the most beautiful symphonies of passion and life’
Henry Normal

‘Morden Tower for me represents the spirit of living poetry in the North East’
Anne Stevenson

‘Never in a place was I happier to be than the Morden Tower’
Hugh MacDiarmid

In 2004 The Morden Tower will have been running as a poetry venue for 40
years.



TOM PICKARD poet, film maker, lyricist.

‘ I am an old admirer of Tom Pickard’s poetry and believe as does Basil Bunting that he is one of the most live and true poetic voices in Great Britain.’ - Allen Ginsberg.

Born in Newcastle in 1946. Left school at fourteen. Set up readings in 1964 with Connie Pickard in the Morden Tower. He has lived in Poland , The United States as well as in the United Kingdom in London and Newcastle. He currently lives in Alston, Cumbria.

‘Pickard was to prove the catalyst that transformed Bunting’s life. Over the following year Bunting wrote - in some ways as an object lesson for Pickard -the final long poem ‘Briggflatts’, upon which his reputation was founded. ‘

Richard Caddell and Anthony Flowers BASIL BUNTING a Northern Life.



Let’s picket-out this scab summer, sun (Extract)
Miner’s strike 1984-5

half moon
over Camden Town
I run amongst the
apple stalls
and broken homeless
seeking green fruit
the colour of your eyes.

Tom Pickard



CONNIE PICKARD Poet, Broadcaster, Writer.

Connie is famous for running the Morden Tower but she is also a gifted poet, writer and broadcaster. Her poetry is rarely published and she is in no hurry to do so. She is currently writing her book on the events that led up to the Morden Tower and poetry revolution that she helped instigate in the sixties. She is still running the Tower. Putting the love of poetry first as always. Here are some events as I write.

Saturday March 1st 2003 ‘Briggflatts’ in Greek read by Kostas Hrisos and Friends.
Friday March 14th Patrick Pritchett and Meredith Quatermain
Thursday March 20th Rebecah Hall poetry workshop
Friday April 4th Alec Finlay and David Hopkins


The Morden Tower website is designed and maintained
by Kostas Hrisos MSc, who lectures Information Systems
at a local college. Kostas is a Greek Poet whose work has
been has published in Greek and International Magazines.
A collection of his poems “in other words” was published
in 2000, and currently he is working on his second
collection "Aiming to miss".
Kostas, co-edits and designs the current Morden Tower
publications. The First of which was ‘Diving For Yemayas’ by Adam Fish.


BARRY MACSWEENEY
‘More than any other British poet MacSweeney possessed by the knowledge that, being one gifted with language, he was also cursed’ Iain Sinclair in ‘Granta’
As a poet Mac Sweeney came out of the hotbed of the Morden Tower, worked with Bunting and was exposed to a huge amount of great poets and poetry. His first collection ‘The Boy from the Green Cabaret Tells of his Mother’ led to his being nominated by Hutchinsons his publisher for the Oxford chair of poetry. He received three votes and this infamous publicity stunt led to MacSweeney shying away from the mainstream and setting up ‘Blacksuede Boot Press’ which published the cumbrian poet Emma McGordon shortly before his death but published intermittently from 1969 onwards throughout his life.
In 1967 he hosted the SPARTY LEA POETRY FESTIVAL in Allenheads, Northumberland bringing together a variety of poets including Tom Pickard, Jeremy Prynne, Peter Riley, Connie Pickard, John Hall and Peter Armstrong.
Barry MacSweeney wrote his first poem aged seven and was an alcoholic by he was sixteen. The lifelong battle with booze is recorded in his last great book ‘The Book of Demons (Bloodaxe 1997) which won the Paul Hamlyn award. He was runner up in the Northern Arts Artist of the year award in 1996.
He died in may 2000 from ill health derived from years of alcohol dependence.
A posthumous collection of works ‘After Apollinaire’ is soon to be published.
Barry MacSweeney: A Selected Bibliography
The Boy from the Green Cabaret Tells of his Mother (1968) The Last Bud (1969) Just 22 and I Don’t Mind Dying (1971) Brother Wolf (1972) Fools Gold (1972) Black Torch (1973) Odes: 1971-1978 (1978) Ranter (1985) Pearl (1995) The Book of Demons (Bloodaxe)(1997)
Wolftongue (Bloodaxe)( 2003) Posthumous
For a complete bibliography of works by MacSweeney up to 1997 see The Book of Demons. MacSweeney also contributed various articles to journals including Maxy’s Journal, Modernism and Modern Writing, Poetry Information, and Angel Exhaust.
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/elll/research/literature/macsweeney/mcsweeney.htm




RICHARD CADDELL Poet, editor, publisher and biographer.
Basil Bunting’s friend and biographer, and
founder of Colpitts Poetry Readings in DurhamCity in 1975.

Richard (Ric) Caddel forsook classical viola training and played briefly with a Tyneside band called Snarlpantry in the early 1970s. Poetry includes Larksong Signal (1997), and editor of Basil Bunting: Complete Poems (1994).
Richard Caddel is the Co-Director of the Basil Bunting Poetry Centre for Durham University Library. He was the editor of Pig Press from 1972 to 2001, and is on the Editorial Board of the journal Sagetrieb. Together with Peter Quartermain, he is the editor of the anthology :Other British and Irish Poetry since 1970.He retired from full-time work in the University Library at Easter 2000. The author of several collection of poems, his Magpie Words: Selected Poems 1970-2000 was published by West House Books, 40 Crescent Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield S7 1HN UK, in April 2002.

On poems in‘Magpie Words’...

‘the closeness of their language opens movement of mind and heart, reminds me of words and language and how it is what we know’ Peter Quartermain

Poetry collections :
Sweet Cicely (Taxus) 1983
Uncertain Time (Galloping Dog) 1990
Larksong Signal (Shearsman) 1997
Magpie Words: Selected Poems 1970-2000 (West House)


Colpitts Poetry was established in 1975 to bring a wide variety of contemporary poets to Durham to read and discuss their own work. It took its name from its original meeting-place, the Colpitts Hotel, a small pub in Hawthorn Terrace, Durham, and continues to use the same name although over the years the venue has varied. Currently meets at Arlington House.

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