LETTERS FROM KEVIN BAILEY
Kevin Bailey( b. 1954) is a is well
known British poet and founder - editor
of the international literary journal HQ Poetry Magazine : The Haiku Quarterly published from Swindon, England. He seeks to maintain ‘good artistic
standards’ in his independent poetry magazine, just as his poetry, reviews and
commentaries have appeared in a wide variety of publications. In
2000 he edited, with Lucien Stryk, the
classic anthology The Acorn Book of Contemporary Haiku. He has been kind to publish some of my
poems, including haiku, in both the HQ
Poetry Magazine and the anthology.
1.
39 Exmouth Street,
Swindon SN1 3PU
England
2
& 3/ V /00
Dear Dr. Singh,
Firstly, my sincere apologies for having taken so long to
have replied to your letters. The last
few months have been full of family and
work responsibilities with little time available for literary work and
correspondence. My mother has been very
unwell (now thankfully recovered), I have been putting together the haiku
anthology (with Lucien Stryk – but he too became ill early on and I have had to
do most the ‘donkey’ work), I gave a six month commitment to the charity Mencap
(for mentally handicapped people) to run their community access project, and
what with the magazine and routine family
demands, I have, frankly, been very overstretched. I know that you understand, I just needed to
explain so that you did not think it was disinterest or rudeness on my part.
I cannot thank you enough for all the help that you have
given Mike Hogan. He is,in my opinion,
one of the most talented young poets around at the moment. It can only be a matter of time before his
talent is fully recognized. I saw him in Bath last week with his mother full of
tales of his adventures in India. He is
coming to stay for a few days around the 20th of May when I will get the complete story. He was looking tanned and well apart from a
slight fever which I suspect was mild malaria.
I had malaria three times myself when a child in Kenya (my father was an
engineering lecturer at Mombasa Technical Institute) and recognized the
symptoms. He brought me a set of four copies of ‘Poetry Today’ which I enjoyed,
and his own pamphlet. I shall, in the
fullness of time, write to Mr. Chaudhuri with a copy of HQ.
I do hope that you are well and about to enjoy the relative
calm of your summer vacation. April here
in Wiltshire has been three times wetter than normal. Every day dark grey clouds and pouring rain –
but thankfully since the start of May the sun has shone and I have been able to
get on with some much needed gardening.
I have a small flower garden here in Swindon and share a vegetable
allotment in Bath with my partner, the artist, Catherine Roberts. I love to have cut flowers in the house and
the pleasure in harvesting my own apples, pears, plums, strawberries, Jerusalem
artichokes, runner beans, shallots, onions, etc. for pies and dinners is beyond
description. There is nothing like
eating food one has grown oneself. It literally keeps one in touch with the earth. I do hope that if ever you are in England you will visit me. I am rather poor and cannot offer very grand
surroundings but the welcome would be warm and rich.
Mike has made India sound a very inviting place for
writers. He has enjoyed himself very
much and is eager to return. I must confess
I am very envious. I now spend time day
dreaming about visiting India myself. He
has the advantage of being single with few responsibilities… It would take a
lot of effort for me to disentangle myself from work and family. I think that I will start putting aside a
little ‘India money’ each month and you never know, I might just manage a trip
out sometime. I suspect a passenger
carrying cargo ship passage would be cheapest… see how the fantasy is getting a
grip of me!
Well, I started this letter on Monday, and now, on Wednesday
the rains have returned and I have had to put the house heating on. I’m
getting very tired of living on such a cold island… And yet it is an
island I would die for – strange thing this love of the homeland.
I’m reading Michael Holroyd’s biography of Lytton Strachey,
the poems of George Barker, and Casanova’s ‘My Life and Adventures’ at the
moment. I tend to read as the mood leads
me. I love good films and in recent
years ‘Carrington’, ‘Regeneration’, and “The End of the Affair’ have
impressed….
I must confess to being creatively rather sterile at the
moment – have hardly written poetry for months – the anthology and magazine
squeezing the creative energy out of me.
I think I need a push from some external stimulus; unrequited love…good
weather even!
Now I’m starting to moan at you and that must indicate the
letter has run its course. I do hope we get the chance to meet one day. And of
course, we must stay in touch. Good
health and happiness.
Very best wishes,
Kevin B.
2.
8. X. 00
Dear Dr. Singh,
My sincere apologies for the long
delay in getting back to you after receipt of your very kind letters over the
last few months. Life became very busy
and I had to concentrate on getting this present issue of HQ out and dealing
with a lot of tidying up work relating to the Contemporary Haiku book just
published with Lucien Stryk.
Work seems go have been the one
constant this summer and I’ve had little chance to either enjoy the weather
–which hasn’t been too bad by English standards—or get on with my own
poetry. I am enclosing a copy of the
latest HQ with some of your work in and that of three other Indian poets; the
experienced Dr. Bahri and Dr. Deodhar, and the novice Ms. Crispy Birbal
Jain. I hope you find something to enjoy
within its pages. I have rather spoilt
Mike this issue—his writing is so good that I felt that for once I would share
as much as I could with the readership.
I do hope that he finds a publisher for this major work soon. Publishing
in England has fallen into the hands of some powerful poetic cliques—mostly
based on old school and university associations, and the Poetry Society
‘Mafia’—their poetry is mostly mediocre but money and media hype maintain their
position… It has probably always been so.
It is only the main twenty or so really independent poetry magazines in
this country that brings new and really innovative (or just plain Good) poetry
before the public.
I write poetry when the Muse visits
me and am not driven to be constantly forcing out new poems. My main role seems
to be to act as midwife to the work of others.
When I am older I will set aside some time for myself and collect
together all the poetry I consider worthwhile or interesting and publish;
simply as a testament to my life and a statement of my existence – I don’t
really care whether people will approve of it or not.
It will just be to say, ‘I was here…’
I do hope that before then I get a
chance to come out to India. It is an
ambition—but one that will have to wait for a full purse. Mike has been working hard and is planning to
do a short but intense ‘Teaching English as
a Foreign Language’ course in London during the Autumn and then return
to India once he has found a teaching post.
He seems pretty keen to settle in India for a while. I really do hope that we get a chance to
meet…
Mike has, I think, opened his mind to
the possibilities of finding an Indian wife.
He spent a great deal of time extolling their (very real) virtues. Most Western women, though having many fine qualities,
are far, these days, from virtuous… My own daughter, Hannah, is now twenty and
has just engaged herself to an Oxford graduate, but I’ve not been introduced to
him yet. Oh for sons… I have two daughters and two sons; Hannah 20, Robert 17,
Emily 16, and Lawrence 9. I must confess
that Lawrence is the apple of my eye; perhaps because I am older and he is younger. He has started writing poetry and is a keen
artist, and claims to want to be a painter… Hannah is training to be an
actor/theatre manager; Robert is confused and concentrates on football, cricket
and rugger; Emily is beautiful and bright – plays the saxophone, acts, is very
bright, and will probably catch the eye of some notable, wealthy enough to
provide her with the beauty and easy that naturally surrounds her…
Perhaps I should come out and find a
new wife for myself. But what well bred Indian woman would want me for a
husband!
You must be very proud of your son –
I hope that your summer has been relaxing one and that you have had some time
to rest. Perhaps now that your son has
graduated he has been able to spend some time at home. I know that the company of Lawrence, though
he is still young, is a good thing… that father-son relationship is a very
special one; sons seem to grow older and closer to their fathers.
8.10.00 (Some weeks after the above)
I have been ill with colon problems
recently, and am particularly short of cash at the moment, so a trip to India
is still an ambition – but a delayed one. Thank you for your kind invitations…
This letter has been much delayed and I must get it off to you. The Contemporary Haiku book had its launch at
Waterstones bookshop in Trafalgar Square, London, last Thursday and went well. I do hope that you have now received your
copy, if not, then do please get in touch with Acorn direct. The book is to be reviewed in the Times
Literary Supplement in a couple of weeks which should raise its profile
somewhat. I am sorry for this absolute jumble of a letter. I am very over stretched with work and feel
sometimes that I am now drowning under the weight of letters and manuscripts…
please forgive; I know you understand.
Mike is coming to stay in a couple of weeks and that should relax me. You will be in our thoughts and
conversation. We both think of you as
“friend”.
Very best wishes to you and your
family,
Kevin
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