‘Little magazines were the only option’: an interview with Tina Morris

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Ken Geering's little poetry magazine Breakthru was focused on giving new writers an opportunity to publish their work. According to British Poetry Magazines 1914–2000 eleven issues of Breakthru International Poetry Magazine were published between December 1961 and Autumn 1972 all edited by Geering from Lindfield, West Sussex in the UK.

2 For a detailed account and analysis of the Golden Convolvulus trial, see: Bruce Wilkinson, Hidden Culture, Forgotten History: A Northern Poetic Underground and its Countercultural Impact (Warrington: Penniless Press, 2017).

3 Morris does not give her poems titles but for examples of her prose poetry see her verse in the first four issues of Poetmeat. These are now extremely rare but can be found in The Dave Cunliffe Collection The John Rylands Library & Research Institute. Box C18.

4 TM describes an area of Manchester that is now known as the Northern Quarter, which was home to numerous second hand bookshops, a few of which remain in the Shudehill area, which is near Victoria Station.

5 It is worth noting that many of the earlier (late 1950s/early 1960s) books of Beat poetry in Dave Cunliffe's archive have ‘Chris’ or ‘Christine’ written on the inside covers from when they were a married couple.

6 Although the 1965 International Poetry Incarnation at the Albert Hall is now much better known the Poetry 66 event, held in two Nottingham venues in February 1966, was far more representative of British experimental verse at that point. The festival included readings by some of the UK's leading avant-garde poets which included Michael Horovitz, Jeff Nuttall, Gael Turnbull, Dom Sylvester Houédard, Hugh MacDiarmid, Bob Cobbing, Jim Burns etc. but there are no female poets listed in the programme. However, in my research for Hidden Culture, Forgotten History, I corresponded with Martin Parnell, one of the event organisers, who confirmed that although not listed in the programme, Tina Morris and Dave Cunliffe both attended and read at Poetry 66.

7 Thomas Briggs (Blackburn) Ltd is a small printing company founded in 1909 and which continues to operate from King Street, Blackburn.

8 The production of some Screeches publications by a commercial printer might explain why some of their pamphlets and magazines do appear a little more sophisticated than others.

9 This is supported by Screeches accounts held in the Dave Cunliffe Collection Box C22 which are mostly signed by Morris.

10 Tuli Kupferberg (1923–2010) was a New York poet, publisher and activist often connected with the Beats and who appears in Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl as the ‘person who jumped off Brooklyn Bridge’ – which Kupferberg did, fracturing his spine. His Birth magazine and press featured work from many of the leading US avant-garde writers of the late-1950s and 1960s, but he is perhaps best known as a band member of The Fugs with fellow poet Ed Sanders.

11 Concrete poet Cavan McCarthy published 22 issues of his little magazine Tlaloc primarily from Leeds but edited a couple of issues from Blackburn while resident there.

12 Father Brocard Sewell edited The Aylesford Review literary magazine from 1955 to 1968 which featured experimental verse from poets on both sides of the Atlantic. Sewell later became a controversial figure when it was revealed that he had been a member of the British Union of Fascists (and which came as a great surprise to both Morris and Cunliffe).

13 David Allen Stringer (also known as Rainbow Eagle) is a poet and small press editor who was originally based in Yorkshire and produced little magazine Phoenix New Life Poetry from Foey, Cornwall in the UK. No more details known. Poetsmeatfolk were events run by Morris in Blackburn pubs which combined live poetry readings with folk music performances in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

14 Poet, author and publisher Jim Burns edited eight issues of Move between 1964 and 1968 from Preston and then took over the editorship of Palantir from issue three in 1976 producing 20 in total through to 1983. He was a regular contributor to Ambit, Tribune and Jazz Journal and had an article about Morris and Cunliffe (‘Blackburn Beats’) published in the Guardian newspaper.

15 Bohemian poet Mark Hyatt (1940–1972) moved to a cottage on the outskirts of Blackburn in the late 1960s with his partner, the playwright and director Donald Howarth. Some of his verse appeared in an issue of Cunliffe's Global Tapestry Journal shortly after Hyatt's death. Much of his verse was unpublished but a selection is about to appear as So Much for Life (Nightboat Books).