One morning in June 1988 the poet and novelist Alison Fell
read a page of poetry (it must have been poetry or something like,
although it went straight across the photocopied page, because it
sounded so strange, like music almost) to a group of school students
on a week-long writing course funded by the Inner London Education
Authority. There was something about 'tender buttons' in it. Then
Fell sent us to eavesdrop on conversations in Covent Garden and
to write something out of what we heard. These listenings -- to
the 'speaking voice and particularly the sound of women speaking to
each other' (as Alice Notley put it) -- were a revelation,
particularly as Philip Larkin was the only poet studied in A Level
English that year (I kid you not). But I lost the sheet of paper and
forgot the name of the woman who wrote the poem and only much later
came across the 'tender buttons' passage again, thanks to a poet on
this list who warmly recommended Gertrude Stein. I'm telling you
this because it's sometimes interesting to see how poetry is passed
on despite being absent from reading lists and publishers' lists.
(While I'm here, what is it that makes a classic classic? Canon law
or sheer endurance?) Thanks for the 'Tender Buttons', Alison Fell.
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