National Poetry Day is 3 October and what better time to reflect on love, loss, hopes and dreams in the company of our favourite bards. In that respect I can think of no-one better than our very own north eastern wordsmith, Kate Fox, whose work goes from strength to strength, helping to put our region firmly on the literary map.
On Sycamore Gap
Kate’s most recent collection, On Sycamore Gap, is a timely publication inspired by the shocking act of vandalism in 2023 that resulted in the felling of the world-famous tree that stood in a gap on Hadrian’s Wall. Published on 26 September on the eve of the first anniversary of this criminal act, this beautifully produced chapbook is a must for all those who are still mourning the loss of the iconic tree. Kate’s collection of beautifully crafted verse echoes in the empty space we now encounter and helps to fill the void with hope.
The book is, by its own admission, “a celebration of the tree we lost and those to come”, mining deep roots of attachment, referencing the historical and contemporary, using archeological information and personal observation to bring to life the people of the borderlands through the centuries along with their gods, including our 21st century idols. You might recognise yourself and possibly your ancestors within the pages. It’s a text book for the heart, a treatise for nature connection, taking us beyond the gap, hopefully into a new phase of collective environmental stewardship.
The author is generous in her acknowledgements, noting the work of natural scientists Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees) and Merlin Sheldrake (Entangled Life), as well as staff and volunteers at Northumberland National Park, the National Trust and English Heritage. She approached the creative task from multiple perspectives, as learner, researcher, reporter, diarist, eavesdropper, pilgrim, campaigner, settling on the idea of creating a border ballad (the trunk) interspersed with other poetic forms (branches) such as haiku, sonnets and a rather pleasing palindromic poem where she speaks as the tree, encouraging us to read the poem from the bottom up as well as top down.
‘It was a particularly shapely sycamore’, she writes admiringly in the opening section of the book, revealing her love for the specimen. This is followed by a 13 line stanza in the style of fellow Northumbrian Basil Bunting whose epic modernist semi-autobiographical poem Briggflatts was inspired by a love affair with both the landscape of the North Pennines and a girl (called Peggy). Bunting’s description of the natural cycle of the seasons and his conjuring of blood thirsty Viking war-lord Eric Bloodaxe prepares the reader for death, decay, change, transformation. Fox ventures into similar territory as she references Roman centurions, pagan rites, blood-letting, a water goddess, all evidenced through archeological finds in the vicinity of Housesteads and Carrawburgh.
However, we are brought back to the here and now with a reminder:
"It was not a gentle time on earth
and the last thing anyone wanted to see
was the shocking gap in the sky that tore
open in September 2023"
A voice beyond the gap
Kate’s overall aim was to give the tree a voice beyond the gap in the wall and the denuded stump, and in this she succeeds, amplifying the voices of all those who lamented its loss. She has a rare ability to write well in a wide range of styles, conjuring the commonplace and documenting the everyday, along with visionary imagining. The reader is at once both included (as in the ‘selfie’) and exhorted to care for the natural world as in the beautiful and humble ‘Treow’.
"...May we find the will
to properly care for all your kind,
as you in turn have cared for us..."
The poems are accompanied by striking black and white lino-cut illustrations by artist Cat Moore, making this the perfect gift for the loved ones in your life and most importantly for you. It is available from all good book stores or direct from the publishers Harper North.
NB An exhibition of artwork responding to the tree can be viewed at The Sill National Landscape Discovery Centre, near Bardon Mill, until 3 November. Visitors are encouraged to make their promise to nature which will then be incorporated into the next phase of artist Charlie Whinney’s commission.
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