Harwood, Lee

The Sinking Colony

London, England, UK: Fulcrum Press, 1970. First Softcover Edition. Softcover. “A small train quietly follows the coastline. / The sky is so blue over the boat-yards, and the sun is a blinding / white. / Meteorology. / At dusk the fishermen climb aboard the train and clutter the / carriages with their rods and baskets. At “two o’clock” it’s as / deserted as a shingle bar. / The green carriages. You’re surprised. I can’t explain all the / echoes. The lancers. / Ricochets make it dangerous for everyone in town, regardless of / their, or any, involvements. On the horizon clouds of dust signal / that the indians were tearing up the railroad again and cutting / telegraph wires AS USUAL. This lack of imagination has some- / thing of the primitive in it. Alas. “N’est-ce pas?” / Banditry. / That ridiculous gun-shot. Outside it’s raining, maybe. It’s like / the dream that is repeated so often that it comes true. / The window open, the curtains flapping, somehow suspended. It / is he “softness” I’m talking about…Outside the country- / side is seen in vague outline. It is “an obsession with the / artificial”. Make way for hills and the noise of people milling in / the courtyard outside. / “Rolling.””--Lee Harwood, “Death of a Pirate King,” pg. 10. Lee Harwood (1939-2015) was an English poet associated, primarily, with the British Poetry Revival movement. Harwood was born in Leicester and raised in Chertsey, Surrey. He studied at Queen Mary College, University of London and soon became involved in the London poetry scene of the 1960s. The author of over 20 volumes of poetry, fiction, and translations, his poetry collections include Collected Poems 1964-2004, Selected Poems (2008), and The Orchid Boat (2014). His work is influenced equally by Romantic poets such as John Clare (1793-1864) and William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and by 20th-century movements such as Dada, the Black Mountain poets, and the New York School. Offered today is the 1970 collection of poetry, The Sinking Colony. This collection, increasingly more experimental than its predecessor Landscapes (see item No. 8676), is wildly imaginative, endlessly interested in the human, and revels in the tapestry of emotions that make up the human condition. As Paul Selby (b. 1948) states on the back cover: “Lee Harwood is concerned with precision, stories begun, expeditions set up, landscapes are glimpsed; but to a purpose – to explore a personal statement of a state of mind, to revitalise language and stock phrases by a context that fires on broken lines, retracted, and undercut statements, movements towards a perfection, precision and elegance, whose elusiveness sparks the wider implications of the poems, i.e. those outside the question of language.” A wonderful, often forgotten collection that is as scarce as it is literarily profound! From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who managed the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England for founder Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item nos. 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been honored to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, some of which have become the stuff of myth. Trade-format Softcover. First softcover edition. Book in relatively fine condition with moderate wear to fine edges, mild scratching/smudging/discoloration to front and back covers (although the latter is likely due to age-toning), and some creasing at front and back covers near spine. Fine. [Item #8678]

Price: $40.00