NOTES

i’ve always had time for Heathcote Williams, since his book The Speakers in the early 1960s. I’ve a clear memory of a typescript both black and red ribbon used, in my hands, of his remarkable play AC/DC. Years drift and my next glimpse is of him entertaining me for hours in his room with a fine magic and conjuring display (featuring much flash-paper). He is the only fellow-worker I have been on strike with…. when we withdrew our labour from the B.B.C over their censorship of poetry. I regret I cannot be there for this.

Piano Sonata No.3. 3rd and 4th movements Alexander Scriabin Piano Roll
Bernie’s Tune Earl Hines Trio Here Comes Earl “Fatha” Hines
Blue Lake Don Cherry Blue Lake
2003 Version – Scherzo Jaap Blonk Ursonate
Inner Cities 7-5 (for Trisha Brown) Alvin Curran Inner Cities
LBJ Orders Pants August 1964
Little Eddie Blues Robert Cage Robert Cage Can See What You’re Doing
Rhodopsin Blues Locatelli, Carriero, Grossi private recording

Direct download:dichich.mp3

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The Servile State Hilaire Belloc Out of print.

Little White Bull John Muckle Shearsman

The General’s Son Miko Peled Just World Books

Whatnot A Talk with Philip Whalen David Meltzer The Beat Scene press

Diary Of The Dark Years 1940-1944 Jean Guéhenno, translated and annotated by David Ball OUP

XIVLiners Tom Raworth Sancho Panza Press

Life Elizabeth Arnold Flood Editions

Red Mavis Merrill Gilfillan Flood Editions

ARK Ronald Johnson Flood Editions

hoyoot, Collected Poems and Songs Tom Pickard Carcanet

Selected Essays Hilaire Belloc out of print

Weekend Wodehouse P.G.Wodehouse out of print

Death Puppet Jim Nisbet The Overlook Press

Sonnets Jim Nisbet Provendor

A series of perceptual failures and reckless reckless cutting Frances Cruk crater 29 Crater Press

Abilene! Abilene! Variorum Edition with appendices and commentary. Edward Dorn (Part 1 and Part 2) Kyle Waugh , editor CUNY Lost and Found

Tono Sarah Kelly Crater 28 Crater Press

I’d like to (and shall) remember Joe: a valued and dear friend; and one who saw my heart. Our sympathy and condolences to Marjorie and all their family. love, Tom & Val.

Link to UCLA Tribute

Tom Clark has been honourably illustrating the current lunacies.
Simply considering Ferguson, there’s THIS, and David Simon’s reasonable letter

Yesterday we heard that Tom’s surgery is now scheduled for Monday September 1st. Though still more than two weeks away there is stuff to be done in the interim, drug doses to be adjusted, tests to be monitored, and a whole day (August 21st) of “pre-operation assessment” at a more distant hospital. But it is good to feel something is moving. Yesterday evening the surgeon called to ask us to a special meeting with him tomorrow, Friday, at noon at our local hospital so we hope to get some specific information and, we hope, answers to a cluster of questions. Tom continues quite frail, and although feeling generally exhausted has a very disturbed sleep pattern. He has not been able to get out much, but a few days ago our son Lloyd came by and drove us up to Ditchling Beacon the third highest spot on the South Downs. The evening was sunny and there was both a breeze and a fine view across the Weald. He finds his general clumsiness and in particular his great difficulty with typing very frustrating. Again he asks me to thank friends for their messages, both digital and real-world. This drawing by Ella in Finland and sent by her father Fergal, cheered him this morning….. especially its title Two hands fighting a thermometer. Thanks, Ella and Fergal. Love, Val

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“I’ll tell you what is harder than dying in Gaza by an Israeli missile deluxe. What is harder is that you get a phone call from the Israeli army telling you to evacuate your home because it will be bombed in ten minutes. Imagine; ten minutes; and your whole short history on the surface of Earth will be erased.
Gifts you received, photos of your siblings and your children (dead or alive), things that you love, your favorite chair, your books, that last poetry collection you read, a letter from your expatriate sister, reminders of the ones you loved, the smell of your bed, the jasmine tree that hangs off your western window, your daughter’s hair clip, your old clothes, your prayer rug, your wife’s gold, your savings; imagine; all this passes in front of your eyes in ten minutes, all that pain passes while you are struck by surprise.
Then you take your identification papers (passport, birth certificate, etc.) which you have ready in an old metallic candy box, and you leave your home to die a thousand times, or refuse to leave and die once.”
-Mahmoud Jouda, Gaza

“Oh rascal children of Gaza. You who constantly disturbed me with your screams under my window. You who filled every morning with rush and chaos. You who broke my vase and stole the lonely flower on my balcony. Come back, and scream as you want and break all the vases. Steal all the flowers. Come back…Just come back…”
– Khaled Juma, a Palestinian poet from Gaza

The Names of the Dead

Pulled from
Glenn Greenwald’s post today on The Intercept

The Norwegian emergency surgeon Dr Mads Gilbert on his return home to Tromsø, Norway from 15 days treating the wounded in Gaza.

Both of us are touched and heartened by the very many messages we have received this past week from friends and acquaintances around the world — some not seen for years. To all who have thought of Tom at this difficult time, thank you. I know he would have liked to respond himself, individually, and still intends to; but apart from his poor general health, his proprioception — or at least his balance— seems affected, leading to several falls; and he has developed a weakness and numbness in his left hand which is limiting what he is able to do: he says it is like trying to type with a bunch of clumsy and insensitive sausages. We continue to wait for a date for further surgery. The surgeon took the trouble to telephone a few days ago to say he’d put Tom on the”Urgent Acute List” which he qualified with “that used to mean something”. Of course everything is now in the hands of the cupidous and moronic specimens who govern us and whose aim is to destroy the Health Service. Waiting for anything is always difficult, let alone for surgery you’ve already been told it is likely you won’t survive. But all is not gloom. We are fortunate to have friends nearby, generous with their time and help: thank you Sara, Sam, Daniel and Jenny; and some family live not too far away — last weekend our two granddaughters visited. Such visits, like your messages, brighten the days. Thank you again, Val.

Tom asked me to add this personal note: Norma thought of and sent the blue, Trevor saw it in a dream.

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The surgery Tom was due to undergo last Monday morning was cancelled at the last moment just before he was to be wheeled into theatre. The surgeon and anaesthetist felt the risks were too high given his current health which is very poor. He has in addition to everything else developed renal failure. The surgeon tried a different but less risky procedure on Monday afternoon which sadly was not successful: the tumour is too large and awkwardly placed. However Tom has decided to undergo the original surgery, risks notwithstanding. The surgical team has agreed and there is, in truth, no alternative. He is remarkably calm and stoical, is grateful for the many messages (to which he cannot reply at the moment), and sends love. So we must wait for another date, in theory within the next week. I will keep you up to date on any progress. Love from me too, Val

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