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I am very upset. It seems the biggest loss for the North East since Basil. I had followed Barry's poetry since the beginning picking up his odds and ends as I found them. I exchanged letters for a time but that was the neartest I got to him, despite his tenure in Darlington. I still think the flawed masterpiece `Ranter' is his best work. And I always loved it when he wrote of Sparty Lea. Fred Beake wanted to publish a `Collected POems' with his Mammon Press in collaboration with Bloodaxe, and Barry was very keen on the idea but Bloodaxe dropped out and it came to nothing. A great pity. I think Bloodaxe have a `Selected POems' in their future planning. And Fred Beake's protegee Ryl LOvell died of cancer on Sunday. The poets are dropping like flies. A selection of her work is available at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~exxdgdc/poetry/poets/lovell1.html There is nothing much else to say. Soon there wont be anybody left. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%