'What would you put in the foundation-stone
for future generations?' 'A horseshoe,
a ballet shoes, a horseshoe crab . . .
. . . a dozen conceptual universes
laid head to head like sardines in a tin
and poured all over with lovely oil
of poetry: seal it; solder the key.'
* * * * * * *
and so the Nessie
Edwin Morgan was the last man standing. Aged 90 years this highly acclaimed Scottish bard passed away on the 17th August just gone. He was the last of Scotland's so-called Big 7, the others being Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, Ian Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown and Sorley MacLean. Morgan's final collection Dreams and Other Nightmares - New and Uncollected Poems 1954 - 2009 (Mariscat, Edinburgh) was published as recently as April of this year. There are wonderful tributes and comments to be found on the blogs WEAVER OF GRASS and GEORGE SZIRTES also reachable by PiR's A-Z LINKS >>>
A convenient link to an Edwin Morgan website will appear in the Poet-in-Residence A-Z LINKS >>> before you can say: fok fok splgrafhatchgabrlgabrl
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What a legacy he has left behind Gwilym.
ReplyDeleteAgree. I posted "Rest In Poetry" on the SPL blog and this has been picked up by Andrew Philip on Tonguefire.
ReplyDeleteEddie will always be present in the world (not just Scotland) of poetry.
sad day
ReplyDeletejohn
Yes Weaver, a wonderful legacy. Unfortunately I have only half a dozen of his poems in the Bloodaxe 20th Century Poetry by Edna Longley and those commonly found on the internet, those at the Scottish Library and such other websites, but will now seek him will more diligence. We don't know what we've got till it's gone, as the saying goes.
ReplyDeleteGordon, I followed your links to Tonguefire and SPL. The SPL links to Heaney who has things to say.
ReplyDeleteAye, John.
ReplyDeleteI heard Edwin read several times when I lived/worked in Glasgow. Very droll man. Very fine poet. Many tributes to him via THIS WEBPAGE
ReplyDeleteThank you, Doc. A lot of good tributes there. I thought the Liz Lockhead tribute on the STV News video link was really good: "We might have lost a friend but we still have his poems, every word:"
ReplyDelete