Poetry Express the Survivors’ Poetry Quarterly Winter 2005/06 Issue 23 John O’Donoghue on Robert Lowell A Postcard from Pitsea from John Weedon Lucía Moral Baena on Juan Ramón Jiménez Dave Russell on the literary journalism of Lorna Sage Alan Morrison on the Sixties Press mental health series Peter H Donnelly – A Brief Personal History of Hearing Voices Buzzed Off With Meher Baba – an interview with John Horder plus Broadsheet, Reviews and Letters Pages The Survivors’ Poetry February Bash! Write to Survive! Campaign Update promoting poetry, prose, plays, art and music by survivors of mental distress DINODINO CAMPANACAMPANA One of SELECTED the SELECTED greatest WORKS poets of “the WORKS century in any language Martin Seymour- Smith, MacMillan TRANSLATEDTRANSLATED BY BY CRISTINA VITI Guide CRISTINA VITI to World Literature Survivors’Survivors’ Press Press TranslationTranslation Series Series To celebrate the re-launch of Survivors’ Press, Survivors’ Poetry are proud to announce the forthcoming publication of The Selected Works Of Dino Campana, translated by Cristina Viti. This beautiful collection is the first full” volume ever published in the UK of this highly gi�ed Italian survivor poet – keep an eye on www.survivorspoetry.com for launch date and venue announcement. To order a copy in advance of the launch please send a cheque for ₤9 including ₤1.50 p&p to the address on the opposite page. POETRY EXPRESS Contents Carry On Campaigning Editor: Alan Morrison Assistant Editor: Roy Holland Simon Jenner, Director Sub-editing, design and layout: Alan Morrison Proofing: Roy Holland 1 Cover Image: Structure a Poem in Three Projections by John Weedon © 2005 Winter Warmers Back cover image: The Cruellest Month by Stephen Jackson © 2005 Outreach with Roy Birch Printed by: Chandlers, Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex 4 The Twenty-Fifth Hour Poetry Express is mailed free to all members: contact us to join our mailing Bristol Survivors’ theatre list. We welcome submissions: poetry, articles, new items, and other matter 5 which may be of interest to our readers. We cannot guarantee publication Nine Types of Acuity – the and reserve the right to edit any contributions. The views expressed in this Mentoring Scheme publication are those of the individual authors, and do not necessarily represent 6 the views of Survivors’ Poetry. All poems printed herein are the copyright of the A Postcard from Pitsea authors credited. John Weedon 7 Survivors’ Poetry Studio 11, Bickerton House Poetry Broadsheet 25-27 Bickerton Road 9 Archway Survivors’ Prose – David London N19 5JT Krisman and Paul Murphy Tel: 0207 281 4654 ? 13 Fax: 0207 272 9278 [email protected] A Brief History of Hearing www.survivorspoetry.com 16 Voices – Peter H Donnelly Charity No. 1040177 Company No. 2955445 Registered in England Good As Gold – Dave Russell on Lorna Sage SURVIVORS’ POETRY 20 Hard-Won Light – John Survivors’ Poetry is a unique national charity which promotes the writing of O’Donoghue on The survivors of mental distress. Please visit www.survivorspoetry.com for 23 Letters of Robert Lowell more information. A Survivor may be a person with a current or past experience of psychiatric hospitals, ECT, tranquillisers or other medication, a user of counselling Outpatient Polemic – services, a survivor of sexual abuse, child abuse and any other person who has 25 Sixties Press mental empathy with the experiences of survivors. health series Staff: The Universal Andalucian – Roy Birch (National and London Outreach), Blanche Donnery (Administrator). Roy 27 Lucía Moral Baena on Juan Holland (Information and Editorial), Simon Jenner (Director), Alan Morrison (Editorial Ramón Jiménez and National Mentoring), Xochitl Tuck (Events Co-ordinator) Buzzed Off with Meher Baba Freelance staff: the John Horder interview Janett Plummer (Diversity Co-ordinator), Razz (Camden Workshop Co-ordinator). 30 Co Wright (Website Design and Maintenance) Poetry Broadsheet cont’d Volunteers: 37 Alistair Brinkley, Dan Nelson (Fundraising), Matthew Hackett (Fundraising), Dave Russell (London Events Flyers), John Weedon, EzraWilliams 39 Reviews Trustees: Pauline Bradley, Marius Jankowski, (Acting Chair), Charles Lind, Piers Marter Workshops (Accountant), John O’Donoghue, Celia Potterton, Neil Swire, Barry Tebb, 43 Djamal Ticembal Events Advisory Group: 45 Paul Beasley, Christina Dunhill, Miriam Hastings, John Hirst, Danielle Hope, Helena Twist 46 P.S. S.P. – Letters Patrons: Moniza Alvi, Debjani Chatterjee 47 Some Contributors Carry on Campaigning Dr Simon Jenner, Director ...it seems that Survivors’ Poetry – which And ‘they are coming’ – the landlord some real on-hand guidance too, has worked nationally, for over a dozen cometh. I had to deal with him too, perhaps through a consultancy and/ years, with poets and poetry linked to by turning on the light. Then the or a fundraisers’ ten-day stint, to help distress and disadvantage – may face final Balrog-like confrontation: ACE themselves. They’d need to show the loss of its core funding: with all that and its compliances. All our fault. willing and frame a proposal (like would entail of uncertainty, provisionality the Transition to Disinvestment and the footslog of the fundraising his is what ACE’s 2003 Document they have to produce in round. We live in anxious times. Appraisal found, which any case). This would show they had Fiona Sampson, Poetry Review anachronistically formed the structure and personnel in place the basis of their 2005 capable of benefiting from such a ver felt like leaving Tdisinvestment. It’s also how they final investment. history to the defeated? sashay out of their rejection of Or politics to losers? our Stage 2 Complaint, to which Consultancies, then, offer a There’s so much going Peter Hewitt, CEO ACE, has negotiation, perhaps even to a re- Ewell with SP, I’m tempted to leave responded. Of course Hewitt is at structuring; certainly a clean bill of history alone. But it won’t always two removes, and has to protect health for other funders. The leave us; it meddles, tinkers curses his own. The mutual tone was what subsequent report can be excerpted with us. It wants to be found, like the Sir Christopher Meyer and his and quoted to advantage. This is Ring. We need to thrust its curse kind might call frank and decked. quite apart from the actual purpose: from us into some annealing flame. Perhaps being Christopher would to address the often painful process So I’m breaking off from another have helped, though his being less of re-structuring itself. Core fund- round of fund-raising and mentoring than kind recently inspires me to raising skills are something ACE a superbly gifted poet to look back mimic home office truths with gently could help enormously with. At an through an elvish (amber?) spyglass demonic laughter. I’m not frank, not average of £4,500-5,000 per ten days at the curse itself. No, it isn’t ACE. frankly. What I’d like to address is all (this sounds very little time, but can It’s ancient chemistry that neither the positive ways ACE have actually be strategically extremely helpfully I, nor our current Lead Officer for contributed to SP’s life, and many paced), it’s not a great deal to confer instance, have anything to do with. other RFOs. I think they themselves on an old RFO, with an accredited, Yet we discover these odd whitish feel extremely uncomfortable with pre-vetted firm. deposits on our jackets. Alum, their shuddery methodology, or at Gollum, Dust? So a dust-up. Then least their tactical withdrawal. Based And perhaps it should be generally I’m moving on to 2006 where I’ll on experience, I’d like to suggest a available, since all RFOs bar the meet most of the books we’re just few solutions, given an irreversible Royal Opera House are threatened publishing, and probably you. More decision on any RFO (see below). in any case. Not by ACE ultimately, later. but by what the Government Realistically, axing RFOs could involve choose to visit on ACE. ACE then When I arrived at SP, I found tapering off a grant, rather than slice have to choose the next batch for something akin to the dwarves’ it dead. There simply isn’t time in a the one-way carriages, though as Mines of Moria. Literally; it was dark, few months to secure alternative I’ve written before (so won’t again) had to be entered tunnelling through funding. It often takes nine months they could choose a freeze-dry. You another organisation’s room where from a successful initial submission can reconstitute those. ACE could dragonish stand-offs weren’t to grant. The 18 months initially instead show solidarity with say unknown. We entered on tip-toe. earmarked for Talawa at least 80% of those otherwise to be axed Then we got on famously. Still, what recognized this. But smaller RFOs (the £3m sum is trifling). This would confronted me was a pyred heap. with full-time staff should be given a mark a greater resistance to the Lists of missing scrolls jumbled with far longer lead-in. It hits them just Government’s starving ACE to death the dead. Was this the Director’s as hard, whether you employ four bar a few tokenisms (like the ROH, tomb, like Balin’s? I’d never had a job, or forty. Any RFO over £50,000 p.a. as ‘we go there, minister’), and having but oddly felt this lifestyle, with its should be given a like warning; the blame heaped on them. ACE as Mordor-like (though false) legend for certainly any over £100,000. scapegoat, always at one remove leaving Directors in the land where from blaming the Government, might shadows lie, wouldn’t leave me there. Expiring RFOs should be offered be the single reason for its survival.