I've lived and worked in the NE of England for three decades now, so the
first thing to say is there must be something here which interests me, and
which has sustained my concern over that period. There's also an element
of straight provincialism in the arts/literary life of the region which
annoys me as much now as it ever has. So I'd start off by saying that any
concept of "region" which I respect has to also include a recognition of a
wider perspective ("internationalism" or whatever) and I'd quote Williams
quoting Dewey, "The local is the only true universal, from which all art
flows" and add Lorine Niedecker's tag: "and dreadfully much else". (nb -
all quotes are approximate).

To practice as a poet in a single locale for a number of years means you
(note: for you, read I/me, if it helps. I'm not asserting this as
universal truth) get involved in the issues of the place: history,
geology, botany, politics, you name it. Those concerns crop up in the work
- without making a grand olsonian project out of it - they inform it, it'd
be hard not to include them.

More specifically - unless you shut yourself away - the speech patterns,
the language of the place rubs off: this doesn't mean you write dialect
poetry, but gradually, over the years it insinuates into your speech, and
(since my own work is written to be read aloud) into your performance.
I've heard people say that they come from places where there is no local,
no regional speech (the late Miroslav Holub claimed - perhaps for
political reasons - that there was no regional speech finding its way into
Czech poetry) - I don't really believe them. Even the largest
conurbations have pockets of local, if not indigenous, language - you just
have to use your ears, it seems to me. So: All our products are made with
local ingredients, says the label.

But not just local ones - to ignore any broader contexts would be plain
stupid - provincial, parochial, whatever. My concern for folk music
would've strangled itself years ago if I'd fed it only pure local
ingredients (let's assume that such products existed for the present). And
indeed, it seems to me to be irresponsible to ignore broader - uh -
planetary - concerns, in our lives and our poetry. In poetic terms, to
be deaf to the experiences of others in other places would limit the
possibilities one had at ones own disposal. It's the interplay
between homeplace and awareness of the rest of the world that makes
Bunting, Niedecker and Clare interesting to me.

Hmm. Enough for the present, just out to the coal shed to feed the
whippet.

___________________________________________________________
Richard Caddel
Durham University Library, Stockton Rd., Durham DH1 3LY, UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 (0)191 374 3044 Fax: +44 (0)191 374 7481
WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dul0ric

"Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write."
                                - Basil Bunting
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