Spike Hawkins - Unoriginal Sins

20 Mar POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 16. STICKS STONES NAMES BONES. 1965.

Posted at 13:55h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Ardgay, Ross-shire; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1965
26 x 21cm, 8pp. The sixteenth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Pierre Albert-Birot (translated by Barbara Wright), Enrique Uribe, Francis Ponge (translated by D.M. Black), Ernst Jandl, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Eli Siegel, Tristan Tzara (translated by John Adlard), Herman Hesse (translated by Lesley Lendrum), Barry Cole, Jonathan Williams, Edward Wright and Spike Hawkins. The entire number was designed by hand with woodcuts and hand-written typography by Edward Wright. VG+ condition Scarce.

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15 Aug POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 8. 1963. WITH ONE OF FINLAY’S EARLIEST CONCRETE POEMS.

Posted at 11:18h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1963
30 x 21cm, 4pp. The eighth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Ian Hamilton Finlay, Peter Stitt, Yury Pankratov (translated by Edwin Morgan), Andrei Voznesensky (translated by Edwin Morgan and Anselm Hollo), El Lissitsky, A. Khlebnikov (translated by J.F. Hendry and Edwin Morgan), Spike Hawkins, Jonathan Williams, Alexander Tvardovskii (translated by J.F. Hendry), and Mary Ellen Solt.
This was the first number of POTH to publish Finlay's own concrete poems - the work is Homage to Malevich - where a text block made up of combinations of the words LACK BLOCK and BLACK create a rectangle which is reflected in a drawing below (by Peter Stitt from Finlay's instructions). This work is published in other books by Finlay including Rapel. A significant section of the pages in this number are dedicated to Russian avant garde writers - mostly translated in part by Edwin Morgan and the number is dedicated to the memory of those writers including Malevich.

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02 Feb FISH-SHEET ONE. 1963

Posted at 20:57h in Wild Hawthorn Press

Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1963
21 x 30cm. single folded sheet printed with texts by six contributors. Unique number of this precursor to Finlay's revue Poor Old Tired Horse. Issued in broadside format, Fish Sheet One is composed of quasi-concrete poetic experiments by Pete Brown, Spike Hawkins, J.F. Hendry, Anselm Hollo, Edwin Morgan and Finlay. Folded as issued. A very good+ example of this early and quite elusive production of the press. Ref.: Murray 1.3.

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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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02 Mar POTH (POOR OLD TIRED HORSE) NR 4. 1962.

Posted at 09:40h in Poor Old Tired Horse + Broadsides

Edinburgh; Wild Hawthorne Press, 1962
30 x 21cm, 4pp. The fourth number of Finlay’s poetry publication with contributions by Georg Trakl (translated by Jay Corbett). Spike Hawkins. Heinrich von Morungen (translated by Anselm Hollo). J.F. Hendry. Helen B. Cruickshank. Tom McGrath. Bernard Kops. Alexander McNeish. Suzan Livingstone, and Lorine Niedecker. As usual bits of Scots find themselves near more modern American poems. This is an extremely hard to find early number of this international review - hardly any exist on the open market. This example is overall VG. Copies were sold for 9d each and were sometimes taken around Universities or sold at poetry / literature evenings as well as by subscription.

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