David Morley
A former natural scientist, David Morley has published
18 books, including nine volumes of poetry, won 13
literary awards and gained two awards for his teaching,
including a National Teaching Fellowship. The University
of Warwick awarded him a personal Chair in 2007 and
a D.Litt. in 2008. He was also recipient of the Winifred
Frost Fellowship for the Freshwater Biological Association
during which he carried out research into the impact
of acid rain on insects. David writes essays, reviews
and criticism for The Guardian, Poetry
Review, PN Review and The Times Higher
Educational Supplement. Recent books include The
Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing from
CUP, The Invisible Kings from Carcanet Press,
an anthology of new Romanian Poetry, and a new anthology
of poems by children. David is Director of the Warwick
Writing Programme at the University of Warwick, where
he is Professor of Creative Writing and Director of
The Warwick Prize for Writing. He is currently working
on a series of public art poetry commissions themed
on ancient woodland habitats, a new book of poems and The
Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing.
Forms of Wood and Water: a Note by David Morley
These new poems are written in strange new ‘natural’
forms. Readers will see at once their evolution from
shape poems, concrete poetry and the caligrammes
of Guillaume Apollinaire. I am trying to create caligrammes
which mimic the natural movement, natural sound and,
to my mind, magical natural history of the subjects,
and to recreate those poems from writing them first
in more traditional forms then uprooting those forms
from their artifice. All these new poems – there
are many more – were also written on foot in
Strid Wood in North Yorkshire and in the River Wharfe
that spools through that wood. They are poems written
while walking, climbing trees and swimming. The first
forms are ‘word worms’ –
these combine pulse-form with chromatography, especially
the natural pattern of GATC. Listeners to Steve Reich’s Music
for Eighteen Musicians will know of the ‘pulse’ being
used in music. As with Reich for the ear, the word
worms are intended to throw the eye and ear from one
side of the path one is walking through the poem to
the other. If readers make their way to Strid Wood
at the end of September, they can see this pulse-sequence
carved in to dead elm planks alongside a real path
in some real oak woods. The chromatographic element
will be reproduced on the elm pieces. The caligrammes
about leaf litter are written in the ‘form’ of leaf
litter, and will again be recreated as natural sculpture
in Strid Wood. ‘Strid and Sessile’ takes the transformative
and mutually supportive ecological processes passing
between tree and river, and pushes them even closer
together through language, then through the miming
of the Wharfe’s currents in the Wharfe caligramme
– the form of which is cartographic, based as
it is on the shape and speed of the river between Barden
Bridge and The Strid. The Sessile caligramme is, botanically,
a topological form. This too will find a public home
in Strid Wood. For more information see below.
•
‘Working in the spirit of Ian Hamilton Finlay, Morley’s
poems were written in Strid wood or by the River Wharfe
as its moves through the woods, and the pieces are
realised as visual art using natural and non-toxic
materials. Over eighty of these poems will be “published” in
the woodland in North Yorkshire. David Morley’s poetry
series is part of a new Slow Art Trail, one of the
aims of which is to raise awareness of environmental
issues and to explore how artists can develop a more
sustainable approach to their creative practice. The
project connects with the slow food concept of taking
more time to appreciate quality, sourcing materials
locally and highlighting issues such as re-using and
recycling, sustainable transport and responsible travel.
Other artworks in Strid Wood include sculptures by
Steve Gumbley, Laura Ellen Bacon, Johnny White, Jane
Revitt and Andy Plant.
The Slow Art Trail launches Saturday 27th and Sunday
28th September 2008 at Strid Wood, Bolton Abbey Estate,
North Yorkshire.
The Slow Art Trail begins at Skipton Auction Mart
where a special free bus will travel to the Strid Wood
Exhibition Centre, Bolton Abbey. Here the route continues
on foot through the woods via the Cumberland Trail.
The bus will depart from Skipton Auction Mart every
30 minutes from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on the hour,
and return on the half hour from the Strid Wood Exhibition
Centre from 10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.’
These poems were created as part of a Chrysalis Arts
Project.
Leaf Letters 1
| Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
slaughter |
| Leaf laughter |
Leaf
laughter |
| Leaf letters |
Leaf
letters |
| Leaf flight |
Leaf
flight |
| Leaf litter |
Leaf
litter |
| Leaf fight |
Leaf
fight |
| Leaf light |
Leaf
light |
| Leaf-lit |
Leaf-lit |
| Leaf-lit |
Leaf-lit |
| Leaf light |
Leaf
light |
| Leaf fight |
Leaf
fight |
| Leaf litter |
Leaf
litter |
| Leaf flight |
Leaf
flight |
| Leaf letters |
Leaf
letters |
| Leaf laughter |
Leaf
laughter |
| Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
slaughter |
Leaf Letters 2
| Leaf-lit |
Leaf-lit |
| Leaf light |
Leaf
light |
| Leaf fight |
Leaf
fight |
| Leaf flight |
Leaf
flight |
| Leaf litter |
Leaf
litter |
| Leaf letters |
Leaf
letters |
| Leaf laughter |
Leaf
laughter |
| Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
slaughter |
| Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
slaughter |
| Leaf laughter |
Leaf
laughter |
| Leaf letters |
Leaf
letters |
| Leaf litter |
Leaf
litter |
| Leaf flight |
Leaf
flight |
| Leaf fight |
Leaf
fight |
| Leaf light |
Leaf
light |
| Leaf-lit |
Leaf-lit |
Leaf Letters 3
Leaf
litter |
Leaf-lit
Leaf-lit |
Leaf
light Leaf light |
Leaf
fight Leaf
fight |
Leaf
flight Leaf
flight |
Leaf
letters Leaf
letters |
Leaf laughter Leaf laughter |
Leaf slaughter
Leaf slaughter |
Leaf slaughter Leaf slaughter |
Leaf laughter Leaf laughter |
Leaf
letters Leaf
letters |
Leaf
flight Leaf
flight |
Leaf
fight Leaf
fight |
Leaf
light Leaf light |
Leaf-lit
Leaf-lit |
Leaf
litter |
Leaf Letters 4
Leaf |
Leaf
litter |
Leaf-lit
Leaf-lit |
Leaf
light Leaf light |
Leaf
fight Leaf fight |
Leaf
flight Leaf flight |
Leaf
letters Leaf letters |
Leaf
laughter Leaf laughter |
Leaf
slaughter Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
slaughter Leaf slaughter |
Leaf
laughter Leaf laughter |
Leaf
letters Leaf letters |
Leaf
flight Leaf flight |
Leaf
fight Leaf fight |
Leaf
light Leaf light |
Leaf-lit
Leaf-lit |
Leaf
litter |
Leaf |
Strid and Sessile
Descant on wharfe and oak
Wharfe River caligramme
As
river is to this tree
so
the oak’s quay
so the bark’s ark
so the bark’s brook
so the bark’s wakes
so the root’s wades
so
the root’s spate
so the root’s race
so the root’s wells
so the trunk’s prow
so the trunk’s oar
so the trunk’s mast
so the trunk’s wall
so the branch’s waves
so the branch’s becks
so the branch’s rills
so the branch’s tides
so the leaf’s flood
so the leaf’s shoals
so the leaf’s skiffs
so the leaf’s shore
and so the water’s roar.
As
tree is to this river
so the Wharfe’s weather
so the rain’s seed
so the rain’s bud
so the rain’s bloom
so the spring’s root
so the spring’s shoot
so the spring’s stock
so the spring’s stems
so the beck’s spray
so the beck’s sprigs
so the beck’s brake
so the beck’s branch
so the river’s boughs
so the river’s vines
so the river’s fronds
so
the river’s palms
so
the Strid’s wall
so
the Strid’s warp
so
the Strid’s spooring
so
the Strid’s roaring
and so
hove to the oak’s shore.
Strid and Sessile
Descant on wharfe and oak
Oak caligramme
As
tree is to this river
so the Wharfe’s weather so
the rain’s seed
so the
rain’s bud so the rain’s bloom
so the
spring’s root so the spring’s shoot so
the spring’s stock
so the
spring’s stems so the beck’s
spray so the beck’s sprigs
so the
beck’s brake so the beck’s branch so
the river’s boughs
so the
river’s vines so the river’s fronds so
the river’s palms
so the Strid’s wall so
the Strid’s warp
so the Strid’s spooring so the Strid’s roaring
and so
hove to the oak’s shore.
As
river is to this tree
so the
oak’s quay
so the
bark’s ark so the bark’s brook
so the
bark’s wakes so the root’s wades
so the
root’s spate so the root’s race
so the
root’s wells so the trunk’s prow
so the
trunk’s oar so the trunk’s mast
so the
trunk’s wall
so the
branch’s waves
so the
branch’s becks
so the
branch’s rills
so the
branch’s tides
so the
leaf’s flood
so the
leaf’s shoals
so the
leaf’s skiffs
so the
leaf’s shore
and so
the water’s roar.
Strid and Sessile
Descant on wharfe and oak
reading version
As river is to this
tree
so the
oak’s quay
so the
bark’s ark
so the
bark’s brook
so the
bark’s wakes
so the
root’s wades
so the
root’s spate
so the
root’s race
so the
root’s wells
so the
trunk’s prow
so the
trunk’s oar
so the
trunk’s mast
so the
trunk’s wall
so the
branch’s waves
so the
branch’s becks
so the
branch’s rills
so the
branch’s tides
so the
leaf’s flood
so the
leaf’s shoals
so the
leaf’s skiffs
so the
leaf’s shore
and so
the water’s roar.
As tree is to
this river
so the Wharfe’s weather
so the
rain’s seed
so the
rain’s bud
so the
rain’s bloom
so the
spring’s root
so the
spring’s shoot
so the
spring’s stock
so the
spring’s stems
so the
beck’s spray
so the
beck’s sprigs
so the
beck’s brake
so the
beck’s branch
so the
river’s boughs
so the
river’s vines
so the
river’s fronds
so the
river’s palms
so the Strid’s wall
so the Strid’s warp
so the Strid’s spooring
so the Strid’s roaring
and so hove to the oak’s shore.
© 2008
Salt Publishing Limited 
