Michael Shayer - Unoriginal Sins

01 Jan POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 11. 1964. WITH “OPENINGS” INSERT.

Posted at 13:14h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1964
26 x 21cm, 4pp. The eleventh number of Finlay’s poetry publication with each page a reproduced design by John Picking. POTH was here printed for the first time in two colours - blue and yellow. This number is designated as the "Lollipop Number" - and the shape of a lollipop is a re-occurring motif in the drawings. The contributions are by Apollinaire, J.F. Hendry, Horace, Renzo Laurano, Ann McGarrell, Christian Morgenstern, John Picking, Michael Shayer, Kurt Sigel and Robert Simmons.
INSERTED:
OPENINGS.
2 x 15cm, 4pp. Folded single sheet. Promotional leaflet for John Furnival's Openings Press with contact details being for Furnival but also Dom Pierre Houedard (dsh). VG.

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15 May POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 6. 1963. THE FIRST NUMBER OF POTH WITH A CONCRETE/VISUAL POEM.

Posted at 10:49h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1963
30 x 21cm, 4pp. The sixth number of Finlay’s monthly poetry publication with contributions by Bernard Kops, Larry Eigner, J.F. Hendry, Attila Jozsef (translated by J.F. Hendry and Edwin Morgan), Louis Zukofsky, Mary Ellen Solt, Günter Grass (translated by Jerome Rothenberg), Michael Shayer, Spike Hawkins, Marcelo Moura, Pedro Xista, and Augusto de Campos. This example is overall VG if slightly browned. Copies were sold for 9d each and were sometimes taken around University unions and departments or sold at poetry / literature evenings as well as by subscription.
Importantly this was the first number of POTH that contains a work that is clearly identifiable as a concrete or visual poem - the back cover has three works by Marcelo Moura, Pedro Xista, Augusto de Campos which Finlay notes are "Concrete Poems from Brazil". It appears it was the South American poets who first gained Finlay's attention and led him to primarily work in the milieu.
Some copies of POTH Nr 6 have a printed slip inserted announcing that "From now on, P.O.T.H. will contain graphic art as well as poetry" - although this copy does not have that slip - but that is a further indication that this was a pivotal number of the journal.

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