A special supplement to Molly Bloom magazine
The two finest English poets of their generation
For something like 15 years, from the mid-1980s, I considered myself an ex-poet. In that time I bought and read only three books of poetry, all outstanding selections: Crossing The Frozen River, by Lee Harwood; Tottering State, by Tom Raworth (both from John Muckle’s excellent Paladin Poetry series); and The Dow Low Drop, by Roy Fisher (Bloodaxe). In September 2015, the eighth online issue of Molly Bloom was dedicated to the memory of Lee Harwood, who had died a few weeks earlier. Now, with MB13, we found ourselves mourning the passing of both Tom Raworth and Roy Fisher, the two finest English poets of their generation, both sadly lost to us in short order.
Unlike Lee, neither Tom nor Roy ever appeared in the pages of Molly Bloom, but both were friends of its forerunner, Perfect Bound. Exciting work by Tom was in two of the three issues I co-edited with Peter Robinson in 1977-78, and in two of the other four that appeared. It is fitting that work by Peter in tribute to both men should appear here.
I knew neither well – I met Roy in person only once – but well enough to know both as excellent company, generous with their attention and their intelligence, and drily humorous. Perhaps “drily” under-states the ready sparkle of Tom’s engaging sense of comedy – a good impression of which you might get from this brief YouTube clip of an exchange between him and Charles Bernstein.
Whenever I hear it said – and it often is, rightly – that some poets’ work reads better after you have heard them read it aloud themselves, I always think fondly of Tom. Once heard, his rapid-fire delivery will always remain in the mind’s ear, forever enliven the experience of his words on the page. Again, YouTube has evidence.
His poetry and Roy’s have been major influences on my own writing – as, I am certain, on that of many of the poets whose work appears in Molly Bloom. The remarkable variety of writing styles to be found among the tributes on these pages is in itself testimony to the range of both Tom Raworth’s and Roy Fisher’s work, to many of the qualities they evinced, and to both the depth and breadth of their influence.
An attempt to understand Tom’s method played a huge part in me finding my own, probably much more so than would be apparent to a reader. While it would be both inaccurate and hubristic to liken my writing to his, his particular technique of combining words and found or heard phrases gave permission to my own. As for Roy, it was reading him that persuaded me that this game of poetry was perhaps one worth playing after all. In that sense, then, you can thank him – or blame him – for the continuing existence of Molly Bloom.
For something like 15 years, from the mid-1980s, I considered myself an ex-poet. In that time I bought and read only three books of poetry, all outstanding selections: Crossing The Frozen River, by Lee Harwood; Tottering State, by Tom Raworth (both from John Muckle’s excellent Paladin Poetry series); and The Dow Low Drop, by Roy Fisher (Bloodaxe). In September 2015, the eighth online issue of Molly Bloom was dedicated to the memory of Lee Harwood, who had died a few weeks earlier. Now, with MB13, we found ourselves mourning the passing of both Tom Raworth and Roy Fisher, the two finest English poets of their generation, both sadly lost to us in short order.
Unlike Lee, neither Tom nor Roy ever appeared in the pages of Molly Bloom, but both were friends of its forerunner, Perfect Bound. Exciting work by Tom was in two of the three issues I co-edited with Peter Robinson in 1977-78, and in two of the other four that appeared. It is fitting that work by Peter in tribute to both men should appear here.
I knew neither well – I met Roy in person only once – but well enough to know both as excellent company, generous with their attention and their intelligence, and drily humorous. Perhaps “drily” under-states the ready sparkle of Tom’s engaging sense of comedy – a good impression of which you might get from this brief YouTube clip of an exchange between him and Charles Bernstein.
Whenever I hear it said – and it often is, rightly – that some poets’ work reads better after you have heard them read it aloud themselves, I always think fondly of Tom. Once heard, his rapid-fire delivery will always remain in the mind’s ear, forever enliven the experience of his words on the page. Again, YouTube has evidence.
His poetry and Roy’s have been major influences on my own writing – as, I am certain, on that of many of the poets whose work appears in Molly Bloom. The remarkable variety of writing styles to be found among the tributes on these pages is in itself testimony to the range of both Tom Raworth’s and Roy Fisher’s work, to many of the qualities they evinced, and to both the depth and breadth of their influence.
An attempt to understand Tom’s method played a huge part in me finding my own, probably much more so than would be apparent to a reader. While it would be both inaccurate and hubristic to liken my writing to his, his particular technique of combining words and found or heard phrases gave permission to my own. As for Roy, it was reading him that persuaded me that this game of poetry was perhaps one worth playing after all. In that sense, then, you can thank him – or blame him – for the continuing existence of Molly Bloom.
Aidan Semmens, editor, May 2017