When the Collected Poems Volume 3 (1992-96), the third volume in Reality Street’s vital edition of Griffith’s poetry over three decades, arrived in the post, it became evident that it would make no sense to review it in isolation. And so, what follows is a review of all three volumes, or rather a survey of Bill’s poetic career up to 1996. Griffiths is, in my view, a major poet, one of the towering figures of late 20th and early 21st century British poetry.
Read more HERE
From 1982 to 2005 Allen Fisher’s major work (following his previous project of the 1970s,PLACE, published in its entirety by Reality Street in 2005) was a sequence of poems that went by the overall title Gravity as a consequence of shape. Taking their titles from an alphabetical list of jazz dances, and using scientific vocabulary and collage practices – erudite, funny and expansive – they were published in several stages over the years.
Now – as with PLACE – Reality Street is publishing the entire sequence in one sumptuous paperback edition.
Charles Bernstein has described this as “a masterful work in the project of undoing mastery”.
The book is on general sale from today, 27 June. Supporter subscribers in the UK should have received their copy by now. Supporter subscribers in the rest of the world – please be patient, your copy will be on its way in the next couple of weeks.
Bill Griffiths’ Collected Poems Volume 3 was published in May. All subscribers should now have their copies.
Together, these two titles by poets we have long championed bring the Reality Street project to a fitting conclusion. The press was launched in 1993 by Ken Edwards and Wendy Mulford, and has been run for the past 18 years by Ken Edwards, who will now devote more of his time to his own writing. All current titles will be kept in print for the foreseeable future, but no new ones are planned. Many thanks for your support of and interest in the press over the years.
Films from the 1st March event in London, courtesy of SJ Fowler. More about the event, and links to more films, can be found at Robert Sheppard’s site.
Reality Street published Bill Griffiths’ Collected Earlier Poems (1966-80) in 2010. Extending the account through the following decade, a new volume, Collected Poems & Sequences (1981-91), once again edited by Alan Halsey, collects poems and sequences from a prolific period in Bill’s life that originally appeared in very small editions. The 426-page volume, publication of which was enabled by subscriptions from 120 supporters, also includes a section of uncollected or previously unpublished poems. The editor provides bibliographical and textual notes.
The book will be launched on Saturday 1st March at Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, London WC1N 2AB. Selections from Bill’s work will be read by poets Ken Edwards, Allen Fisher, Harry Gilonis, Alan Halsey, Mendoza, Geraldine Monk and Robert Sheppard. Copies of both Collected Poems & Sequences (1981-91) and Collected Earlier Poems (1966-80) will be on sale at a reduced price. The event starts at 7.00pm, readings at 7.30.
Email info@realitystreet.co.uk to book your place.
Friday, January 27, 2012, 5:00pm. Lecture Room 149, Northumberland Building, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. Readers include: Peter Barry, Sean Bonney, Clive Fencott, Allen Fisher, Alan Halsey, Jeff Hilson, Ann Matthews, Mendoza, Will Rowe and Juha Virtanen.
A reminder that Sean Bonney, Ken Edwards, Allen Fisher, Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk & Maggie O’Sullivan will read the whole of “Cycles” to launch the first volume of Bill Griffiths’ Collected Poems.
It’s in Room Clore 203, Clore Management Centre, Birkbeck College (across the square facing the main entrance), London WC1, starting at 7.30pm.
Entrance free.
Via Ken Edwards
We’ve already posted about this, but it’s well worth a reminder that Bill Griffiths’ Collected Earlier Poems (1966-80) is now available. Details of this and the upcoming Birkbeck launch event below, via Alan Halsey:
BILL GRIFFITHS: COLLECTED EARLIER POEMS (1966-80)
Published by Reality Street in association with West House Books
This volume brings together for the first time the late Bill Griffiths’ poetry up to ‘Building: The New London Hospital’. The text, edited by Alan Halsey in consultation with Ken Edwards, includes the full ‘Cycles’ and ‘War W/ Windsor’ sequences that so astonished readers when they first appeared, as well as much other poetry that was published by his own Pirate Press imprint, Writers Forum and other small presses during the 1970s; and also poems and performance texts that have only made fleeting appearances in ephemeral pamphlets and magazines, or have never been published before. The works are presented in largely chronological order. Comprehensive endnotes detail both the publishing history and (Griffiths having been an inveterate reviser) variations in texts and alternative versions.
368pp.
ISBN: 978 1874400 45 5
Publication date 29 January 2010
Pre-publication price £17.50 post free
(after January, £18 + post)
Orders to reality.street@virgin.net or info@westhousebooks.co.uk
LAUNCH at Birkbeck, Wednesday 17th February, 7.30
in Room 203, Clore Management Centre (Torrington Square, facing Birkbeck main entrance)
featuring a reading of the complete Cycles by Sean Bonney, Ken Edwards, Allen Fisher, Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk & Maggie O’Sullivan
Bill Griffiths’ Collected Earlier Poems (1966-80) will be published in January by Reality Street.
This is the first time this great, innovative poet’s work has been properly collected. The poetry included here was originally written and published in the 1960s and 70s, and immediately predates the work included in The Mud Fort. It includes the complete “Cycles”, War W/ Windsor”, “A History of the Solar System” and other sequences, as well as a multitude of other poems and and sets of poems, previously published in fugitive editions or not at all, presented in roughly chronological order. The volume is rounded off with Alan Halsey’s meticulous endnotes, detailing the original publishing history and variant texts.
You can obtain this book by:
You can also pre-order it at http://www.amazon.co.uk at £18 post free.
Bill Griffiths: Collected Earlier Poems (1966-80)
Edited & introduced by Alan Halsey & Ken Edwards
368pp
ISBN: 978 1874400 45 5
29 January 2010
For me the whole thing was about how to get good poetry read by people who don’t usually read good poetry, create excitement, be cheap to produce and sell; and yet not be some folded A4 paper. There were about 150 or so of each issue – all sold out now. The limited number of copies made was due completely down to the fact that I was getting sores on my fingers from cutting and folding not due to exclusivity so it’s wonderful that Dean Farrow, Chris McCabe et al have archived the editions for anyone who’s not read the poems or seen what the boxes looked like. So far the first 6 are up with the final six to come.
