Earth-Moon:
A Ted Hughes Website
Able Cross, Crimsworth Dene, Yorkshire.
Crimsworth Dene, near Hebden Bridge, was a favourite spot for the Hughes brothers. In the 1930s, Gerald and Ted used to go on small camping & hunting expeditions here.
Poems & Texts in Memory of Ted Hughes, Fred Rue Jacobs, Len Scigaj
Note:
On this page you will find poems in memory of Ted Hughes and Fred Rue Jacobs, submitted for publication on this site as well as information on books containing texts or poems in memory of or remembering Ted Hughes. A text in memory of Leonard Scigaj, submitted by Terry Gifford, can be read here.
Books with Poems in Memory of Ted Hughes
New Book:
There is a new book imminent from Glyn Hughes which may contain poems relating to Ted Hughes.
Other publications:
Keith Sagar: Mola, 2004, Arrowhead Press, contains several poems remembering Ted Hughes or relating to him.
Daniel Weissbort: Letters to Ted.
Anvil Press Poetry. Oct. 2002. 109 pages. ISBN: 0 85646 341 8 – Ann Skea has published a review of the book on her website.
Seamus Heaney: Electric Light, Faber & Faber 2001, ISBN 0 571 20798-7, contains »On his work in the English Tongue«
Poems
On this page you can read:
Terry Gifford: »Only an Owl ...«. In Memory
of Fred Rue Jacobs 1934 - 1999.
and
Keith Sagar: »Death of a Poet«.
_______________________________
Terry Gifford: »Only An Owl...«
in memory of Fred Rue Jacobs
Dunnerdale, September 18 1999
There's a hole in the State of California.
It can be seen from across the world.
From China, Australia, Brazil,
From Cairo, Poland and France
The friends of Fred can feel the hole
In the bars of Bakersfield, the restaurants,
The new college library that was not big enough
For the books that flowed into Bakersfield
Like water through Valley View, into # 133.
I'm writing in the last house up a valley
In the Lake District and Fred is here
At midnight saying, »Hey, life ain't so bad!«
And »I've had the cancer all these years, but
Hey, I'm a success!« as I ignore my own
Mortality in pursuit of the natural wonders
In those books, the bull backlit by moonlight
In the mist of the meadow I just walked through.
I only saw it when I looked back. Looking back,
I did not expect to meet Fred in Cairo,
But when I went for breakfast on the top floor
Of the hotel there he was drinking beer,
Waiting for people to appear, ignoring
Brilliant parquets below. At dinner over here
His enthusiastic laughter was a little too loud
For English ears. For breakfast over there
Fred's fridge was always stocked with nuts
And beer. Just nuts and beer. »Perfect!«
When I go to the door, peer into the dark
Across the still meadow towards the woods,
I hear the owls of the valley socialising
And remember Ted's dedications in those books
In the Valley View shrine: »Only an owl
Knows the worth of an owl.« Fred was a man
Worthy of his collection, as I think Ted knew
When he wrote, »This one's for Fred,
Living his death with such knowing fun.«
© Terry Gifford, 1999
A note by Terry Gifford:
Fred Rue Jacobs, Librarian at Bakersfield Community College, California,
was a long standing friend of Ted's and the leading US collector, devoting
a room in his apartment to Ted's work in shelves of books and three filing
cabinets of material. This collection is now with Fred's close friend Mimi
Mckay in Austin, Texas. He was the life and soul of meetings of Hughes
scholars and very much wanted to be at the Lyon conference. An expert on
cancer treatment (»Hey, I'm a success!« he said for 12 years
or more), he was devastated that he had not been able to offer his expertise
to Ted, being unaware of the nature of Ted's final illness. »Only
an Owl...« I wrote for his memorial gathering in Bakersfield.
.
_______________________________
Keith Sagar: »Death of a Poet«
A ghost crab sidled into his body
By moonlight
Laid its thousand eggs.
*
When that oak fell a tremor passed
Through all the rivers of the West.
The spent salmon felt it.
*
A rare familiar voice
Entered the October silence
While red leaves fell.
© Keith Sagar, 2000
Note: This poem was inscribed on the flyleaf of a copy of The Laughter
of Foxes for auction by the Cancer Research Campaign to raise money
for its work. Enclosed with the book was the manuscript of an unpublished
poem by Ted called »Knave of Clubs«. Details were published
in the Independent on Sunday, 12 November 2000.