Pages, 1987–1990 (ed. Robert Sheppard)

Pages 57–64, February 1988
Pages 57–64, February 1988

Breaking with issue-based enumeration — and Jacket2 Reissues standard formats — this special archival release of Robert Shepherd’s singular Pages reopens the poetics of the page alongside a snapshot of “linguistically innovative poetries” in the UK from 1987 to 1989. Rather than scan the magazine as it circulated — a two-sheet, eight-page photocopied zine on white paper — this reissue presents the original camera-ready paste-up sheets of Pages as they were prepared by hand by Sheppard. Scanned at the University of Salford, Manchester (UK) by Joey Frances in collaboration with Scott Thurston, these newly public “pages” are cut and arranged to present reading copy PDFs in the sequential order of the magazine, mimicking the folding of the sheet in its original distribution. While the digital images are rearranged to simulate print distribution, the “cut-and-paste” editorial aesthetics of Pages seem eerily predisposed to internet circulation today. In both directions, Pages turns the reader’s attention to the materials that undergird circuits of poetic dissemination, on and off the page.

Amidst this shuffling of pages — between paste-up, magazine, and PDF — the reader will find an exceptional collection of innovative poetry tightly edited by Sheppard for the magazine’s minimal eight-page issues. Later pages draw out a line from Ken Edwards, who aptly cites Pages as “a quick fix of the New British Poetry as it happens.” The speed and urgency of this photocopied fix is seen in the variety of materials, tapes, pastes, and inks that mark these pages, just as it can be read within the heterogenous set of experimental verses that populate each issue. Computational poetry intermingles with abstract drawings that turn into political poetic tracts that meet with absudist comics that open onto linguistic field verses that respond to prosodic enigmas: there is much to discover within these pages.

Contributors include Gilbert Adair, Chris Beckett, Adrian Clarke, Bob Cobbing, Robert Creeley, Ian Davidson, Ken Edwards, Patricia Farrell, Virgina Firnberg, Allen Fisher, Alan Halsey, Peter Middleton, Sheila E. Murphy, Maggie O’Sullivan, Tom Raworth, and Lawrence Upton, to mention only a small sample of the contributors to the magazine. For more on Pages, its history, format, and interventions into linguistically innovative poetry, there is an interview between scanner Joey Frances and editor Robert Sheppard at Reissues Commentary here. 

All Pages are available for download or browsing below. Each PDF is fully searchable and bookmarked for easy navigation to individual pieces within the magazine. This reissue is edited by Danny Snelson with scanning and editorial assistance from Joey Frances and support from Scott Thurston and the Kelly Writers House.

The complete set of Pages is available for download here: [ZIP, 97.1 MB].

 

Pages 1–8, July 1987 [PDF, 4.3 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Pre-Script”

Allen Fisher, “Bristol Stomp”

David Miller, “An Anger in This Place”

 

Pages 9–16, August 1987 [PDF, 3.9 MB]

Gad Hollander, “x stet (M.H.)

Gilbert Adair, from surface bursts (1985–)

 

Pages 17–24, September 1987 [PDF, 3 MB]

Ken Edwards, Four Poems

Andrew Lawson, “Sun Dial Masque”

 

Pages 25–32, October 1987 [PDF, 3.1 MB]

John Seed, Poems

Adrian Clarke, from Shadow Sector

 

Pages 33–40, November 1987 [PDF, 3.1 MB]

Hanne Bramness, Three Poems

Michael Carlson, “Saga”

 

Pages 41–48, December 1987 [PDF, 3.2 MB]

Sheila E. Murphy, Two Poems

Kelvin Corcoran, “Two Faced”

Harry Gilonis, “Ten Marches to Miss the Victory”

 

Pages 49–56, January 1988 [PDF, 3.7 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Beyond Revival”

Virginia Firnberg, “Green Spring Remains”

David Challoner, Four Poems

 

Pages 57–64, February 1988 [PDF, 3.5 MB]

Rupert M. Loydell, from Cockroach

Lee Harwood, “Gyorgy Kurtag Meets Sandy Kerrigan, a song cycle”

Robert Christian, Poems

 

Pages 65–72, March 1988 [PDF, 4.5 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Theoretical Practice”

Responses to Robert Sheppard

Wayne Pratt, Two Poems

 

Pages 73–80, April 1988 [PDF, 3.6 MB]

Stephen Oldfield, Three Poems

Valeria Pancucci, Two Poems

 

Pages 81–88, May 1988 [PDF, 4 MB]

Alan Halsey, “Eleatic Alert: 4 Poems”

Peter Middleton, “Performance in Four Movements, Part 2: The personal political”

 

Pages 89–96, June 1988 [PDF, 3.9 MB]

R. G. Hampson, Three Poems

Hazel Smith, “Abstractly Represented”

 

Pages 97–104, July 1988 [PDF, 3.7 MB]

Ken Edwards, Correspondence

Bob Cobbing, Untitled

Chris Beckett, Two Poems

 

Pages 105–112, August 1988 [PDF, 3.1 MB]

Richard Caddel, “Uncertain Path”

Catherine Walsh, from Short Stories

Aidan Semmens, “As Things Decay”

 

Pages 113–120, September 1988 [PDF, 3.8 MB]

Patricia Farrell, “No Natural Object his”

Tam Raworth, Untitled

 

Pages 121–128, October 1988 [PDF, 3.9 MB]

Heywood Hadfield, “Darfur”

Colin Simms, Three Poems

 

Pages 129–136, November 1988 [PDF, 3.3 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Need for responsible criticism of poetry”

Ralph Hawkins, Poems

Maggie O’Sullivan, Poems

 

Pages 137–144, December 1988 [PDF, 3.8 MB]

James Keery, Two Poems

Peter Riley, Letter

Keith Jebb, Two Poems

 

Pages 145–152, January 1989 [PDF, 3.6 MB]

Ian Davidson, Four Poems

John Wilkinson, “Home At The Range”

 

Pages 153–160, February 1989 [PDF, 3.6 MB]

Johan de Wit, Four Poems

Michael Ayres, “To his fragrance, she surrenders”

 

Pages 161–168, March 1989 [PDF, 3.8 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Poor Fuckers: The New British Poets”

Horst Bienek, trans. Harry Gilonis, “Our Ashes”

Rod Mengham, “Year Zero”

 

Pages 169–176, April 1989 [PDF, 3.7 MB]

Elaine Randell, “In Court”

Lawrence Upton, ‘Personal reminders.’

 

Pages 177–184, May 1989 [PDF, 3.5 MB]

Ian Robinson, “Moving Fast Between the Lines”

John Welch, “Imagine & Dream”

 

Pages 185–192, June 1989 [PDF, 3.3 MB]

Ulli Freer, “Four Poems from Rushlight”

Virginia Firnberg, Four Poems

 

Pages 193–200, July 1989 [PDF, 3.5 MB]

Peter Ganick, from Remove a Concept

Dennis Barone, Four Poems

 

Pages 201–208, August 1989 [PDF, 3.6 MB]

Robert Sheppard, “Meet Me Outside the Daily Planet”

Robert Creeley, Four Poems

John Muckle, “No Passage Landward by Ian Davidson” (review)

 

Pages 209–216, September 1989 [PDF, 3.2 MB]

Alex Alfred, Three Poems

David Barton, “Four drawings from ‘Next to Nothing’”

 

Pages 217–218, July 1990 [PDF, 1 MB]

Robert Sheppard, Editorial Note