Issue 24: Nicky Melville
His Name is Tom
being a collage of email replies from Tom Leonard in correspondence between 2004-2018
how horrible that word "was" is
already
laying out structures "from the past"
actually embodied in the present
what is being pointed out
is what is surrounding
the present reader as they read
The passing of the day
replaces the passing of the page
the new work still filling its own
made space in the world
Gets to the unambiguous
repeated forceful violence
which is what it's at
from on high
they can be pent up in me
as I sense they are in you
you had an encounter with a type
of the described recently
po-faced uptheirownarsical
It’s just a wee jeu d’esprit
as they say in toffland
Hope that aint presumptuous
but I know too
of the dangerous slopes
on dear oul Parnassus
Dear Nicky
Thanks for that email
I very much appreciate your words
Or maybe I wouldn't have loved it
but it would have been real and necessary
as the real thing is
Been working on other stuff
as well as being procrastinatory
Am still in bed fucked with this virus
thanks for dropping up
As to how I'm doing
I'm tired at this minute
When things get in my diary I limit
what I do each day as I find
I just get tired and want
to have all me energy for
anyone I meet
My oxygen thing is ok
just takes a bit of managing
which I am better at now
Excellent Nicky
Was thinking of those doings of yours
when sitting in the cafe
facing Kelvingrove Gallery
when out with Sonya for a walk on Monday
LIVE LOVE LAUGH
Which apparently I would gather
is the reward of coffee
Meeting with yourself reminds me
of the forward grain of things and
that you are hooked up with Sean Bonney
and others who can respond to your
cast of work and mind is crucial
especially when the government agencies
are so nakedly hostile in so many fronts
it's just hard to imagine
what it is like to be on the dole just now
the combined state and press
gunning for you
it's just fucking horrible
it is the alienation of the relationship
structure that gets to you
there have been times in my life when those
phrases have had force
If you're off the mainstream
you have to use what resources you have
and just stand by your work
No other cunt will by and large
just sound off to me anytime you feel like
if it gets hard
That's another taboo
I obviously broke
in the Scottish Poetry World
Hi Nicky
Ye’re sure firing on your cylinders spot on
Whaurs yer fuckin mons meg noo
good tuff
stuff
they should understand that
a Professor Emeritus means
simply a retired professor
So I am no longer in the fucking institution
Maybe I should try to get
some headed notepaper from
from Stobhill or Woodilee that's two
other institutions I used to be in
You could say Professor Leonard
is also a retired lunatic
it is a good job
I keep all these references
for folk on my hard disk
otherwise it would have been shit street
I gave you a good puff
Thanks for the vote too
We must open our own wee parliament
with some pompous poems
This from a selfcatering room in the Algarve
Yes lucky bastard I know
Hope it clears up my lungs a bit
which are giving me shite again
Have been toiling this past few days
very short of breath and with steroids
added to the usual mix
but i should make it ok on Monday
Will be there for 7 I intend
you know the score with me
I don’t like being out much
in the evenings
It looked like a deal of chaos
was coming up when I left
more than an old punter like me
can bear any more
These days I tend not to go out at nights
very rarely at any rate
I seem to be joining the Cocoa Club
Sorry if I should know but
my brain is like a doughnut
Ah that clears it up the poetry list...
I love the absurdist strain in Dickens
all me life a companion
Oh fuck
I have never had a shop in Glasgow
that sold my work
I think Borders in Glasgow after much
haggling and rebukes
from customers
for christs sake
actually ordered three
Then they went bust
Ha ha ha
Hope it fucking sank them
Very funny fucking brilliant
Brilliant wonderful and VERY IMPORTANT
To me anyway
in my Great Battle With Life
Which I have easy summat
I hope you're managing
to keep enough bawbees in the pocket
for the chin to remain up
it's a problem with weans and being a poet
I know
Dear Dr Melville
That’s great Nicky
You and Jim Ferguson Fuck me
I never got to be a doctor though
was helicoptered to a professorship
These are definitely signs of the Last Days
Keep well and writing sir
that is all that matters
in this regard anyhow
I speak here for humanity if you will allow
all the best
Tom
Nicky Melville’s latest book is ABBODIES COLD : SPECTRE (Sad Press); THE IMPERATIVE COMMANDS will be published with Dostoyevsky Wannabe in 2021. He recently started making demos under the name Fuck This.
Copyright © 2020 by Nicky Melville, all rights reserved. This text may be used and shared in accordance with the fair-use provisions of Copyright law. Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on other terms, in any medium, requires the notification of the journal and consent of the author.
