Memo for Spring: 50th Anniversary Edition - Introduction by Ali Smith

by Liz Lochhead

Liz Lochhead is one of the leading poets writing in Britain today. This, her debut collection, published in 1972, was a landmark publication. Writing at a time when the landscape of Scottish poetry was male dominated, hers was a new voice, tackling subjects that resonated with readers – as it still does. Her poetry paved the way, and inspired, countless new voices including Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie, Jackie Kay and Carol Ann Duffy. Still writing and performing today, fifty years on from her first book of poetry, Liz Lochhead has been awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and was Scotland’s second modern Makar, succeeding Edwin Morgan.

Memo for Spring is accessible, vital and always as honest as it is hopeful. Driving through this collection are themes of pain, acceptance, loss and triumph.

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 1972

About the author

Liz Lochhead is a Scottish poet and dramatist, originally from Newarthill in North Lanarkshire. In the early 1970s she joined Philip Hobsbaum's writers' group, a crucible of creative activity - other members were Alasdair Gray, James Kelman, and Tom Leonard. Her plays include Blood and Ice, Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1987), Perfect Days (2000) and a highly acclaimed adaptation into Scots of Molière's Tartuffe (1985). Her adaptation of Euripides' Medea won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award in 2001. Like her work for theatre, her poetry is alive with vigorous speech idioms; collections include True Confessions and New Clichés (1985), Bagpipe Muzak (1991) and Dreaming Frankenstein: and Collected Poems (1984). She has collaborated with Dundee singer-songwriter Michael Marra.

In January 2011 she was named as the second Scots Makar, or national poet, succeeding Edwin Morgan who had died the previous year.

Reviews

[🌶 peppersocks 🧦 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections and lessons learned/the content of this book made me feel…

…the importance of the art form for sociopolitical capture. A real treat to read in one sitting on the train home from a first proper family Scottish holiday, where I spotted this in the parliament shop. It won’t be the last reading…

[Bartek Muszkat · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a vibe

[Zachary Ngow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reading these on the page and only later realised I should be reading them aloud. Thats true probably for most poetry but the sounds and rhythm of these poems are amazing.

I loved 'Notes on the Inadequacy of a Sketch' with lines like:

"... intervals over which stones exactly
snails had scribbled silver."

'Obituary' is a masterpiece. More favourites are 'Revelation', 'Fragmentary', 'Grandfather's Room', 'George Square' and 'Homilies from Hospital'.

Unfortunately this particular book had misprinted some pages as empty, so I missed out on the poems 'Morning After', 'Inventory', 'For my Grandmother knitting', 'Poem on a Daytrip', 'Overheard by a young waitress' and 'Letter from New England'. Thankfully, I was able to look up some of those online.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

New edition of Liz Lochead's first published poetry collection, with an introduction by Ali Smith and preface by Liz Lochead. This collection is now fifty years old and as fresh as a daisy. The poems reflect her own perspective, as a Scottish woman, a poet leaving her visual art training behind and finding a new way to describe the world around her, with precision and with clarity. There is clever wordplay, sharp observations, humour, and feeling. An iconic figure in our cultural landscape.

[Caron Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read Liz Lochhead poems for years and always get something new from her writing. West coast and working class and a woman and a poet. Memo for Spring is 50 years old but could have been written this year.
The Choosing has one of my favourite lines:
“I think of those prizes that were ours for the taking
and wonder when those choices got made
we don’t remember making.”

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a lifelong fan of this groundbreaking poet and was overjoyed to pick up this new edition of her debut collection, with new preface by Liz and new intro by another favourite writer Ali Smith. It’s as beautiful as I remembered and I cannot recommend it and her highly enough.

[Tom Manning]

I saw this in a bookshop in Bath and when I saw that it was introduced by Ali Smith I was immediately drawn to it. It's a brilliant debut collection of poetry and you can see the influence it has had on Ali Smith's own writing.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling debut volume of poetry by a young Scottish poet, originally published in the 1970s - and it feels so incredibly 70s. It's a full-up vibe. I love the way she exists deeply in her landscapes - the grittiness of Glasgow and her native Motherwell, while Edinburgh is described: "No mean city, but genteel, grey and clean city, you diminish me- you make me aware of your architecture, conscious of history and the way it has of imposing itself upon people."e

Some favourite excerpts:

(From "Obituary")
We together
laughing,
in our snobbery of lovers,
at their narrow vowels
and strange permed poodles.
Locked too long in love, our eyes
were unaccustomed to the commonplace.
Seems silly now really.

(From "On Midsummer Common")
On midsummer common
it's too good to be true...
My town can't contain itself.
...
So much slops
into that night nothing goes gentle into,
not even rain.
Such a town
I feel at home to be at odds wit.
Here on midsummer common on
a midsummer Saturday
you, this day, this place and I
are just exchanging pleasantries.
Oh, it's nice here, but
slagheaps and steelworks
hem my horizons
and something compels
me forge my ironies from a steel town.

(From "After a Warrant Sale")
Those who are older tell me,
after a married year or two
the comforts start to matter
more than the comforting.
But I am very young,
expecting not too much of love --
just that it should completely solve me.
And I can't understand.

(From "Object")
I, love
am capable of being looked at
from many different angles. This
is your problem.
In this cold north light it may
seem clear enough.
You pick your point of view
and stick to it, not veering much -
this
being the only way to make any sense of me
as a formal object. Still
I do not relish it, being
stated so - my edges defined
elsewhere than I'd imagined them
with a crispness I do not possess.
...
In this view of things
too much to take into account is what it amounts to:
But you, love,
set me down in black and white exactly.
I am at once
reduced and made more of.