In a recent post, I referred to my curiosity about Doris Lessing’s poetry, in some ways this curiosity has been sated. Alison Greenlee, special collections librarian in Tulsa University assured me that Ms. Lessing’s Book, Fourteen Poems was accessible in a Dublin College. Last Monday morning I went out to UCD to access the book and to transcribe two poems from it for use on this site.
Jonathan Clowes literary agents have agreed that the Poethead site can publish two poems from the Fourteen Poems book for a period of twelve months. The getting permission process is necessarily slow, and Poethead readers who wish to read the two chosen poems are relying on my transcriptions! Two Things about the above statement, my transcriptions are generally ok, even when they occur in climate-controlled premises (which make me sleepy) and I chose the poems (sight unseen) from a list! I like the two Lessing poems that I have chosen and I do hope that the permissions, which are winging their way to London as I write, will allow their publication here in the next week or two.
Fourteen Poems is a pamphlet, it is card-bound and is in immaculate condition. I am reproducing here the image of the copy that is included in UCD special collections. There were 500 prints, and numbers 1-50 are signed by the author. UCD does not have a signed copy. I am adding here the names and contacts of those people who have very generously facilitated a writer’s curiosity, with many thanks. I have decided to publish the poems by title, together, as part of the regular A Saturday Woman Poet articles that I have been posting for over three years.
Thanks are due to the following people for their courtesy and attention in facilitating my reading of the book :
- Olivia Guest at Jonathan Clowes literary agents http://www.jonathanclowes.co.uk/permissions/
- Alison Greenlee at the McFarlin Library, Special Collections, http://www.utulsa.edu/mcfarlin/speccoll/collections/lessingdoris/index.htm
- Evelyn Flanagan at UCD Library Special Collections http://www.ucd.ie/library/finding_information/special/
I have discovered a great interest in reading some of J.B Priestly’s Three Time Plays during this week also, but I have decided to write about reading the poetry as it was a lovely privilege to find that there was a copy available in Dublin, and to get access in such a timely manner! I have the two chosen poems and they are all ready to go.
Chris Murray 