Charles Olson in Gloucester, Cape Ann, Massachusetts

Often mentioned in the same breath as Black Mountain College, North Carolina, the poet Charles Olson - who was born in Saugus, Massachusetts - lived here from 1958, which was where he'd spent his summers as a child, and where he stayed until his death in 1970. The huge collection Maximus Poems centers on the history of Gloucester and the area, such as the abandoned Dogtown Commons. His main infuences are Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams.

'Charles Olson

Poet

1910 - 1970'

Olson was friends (although not without problems) with another Gloucester poet - Vincent Ferrini (1913-2007) - whom he'd originally visited in Gloucester as a kind of fan after reading 'This House'. Ferrini was a working-class poet who'd worked as a shoe factory worker and in a GEC factory in Lynn, and had a picture frame workshop in his garage at his home on East Main Street, Gloucester, where he lived for 50 years.

This is a link to Hydra Magazine article 'The Battle of Gloucester: Vincent Ferrini Meets Charles Olson'.

Black Mountain Book, by Fielding Dawson

Fielding Dawson (1930-2002) is one of the lesser known of the beat writers, and I only discovered him by chance while flicking through Edwidge Danticat's books at Nottingham University library (right next door alphabetically, see?). This book is a rather desultory account - jumping from straightforward narrative to concrete-style poetry through apparently unrelated ramblings - of the author's stay at Black Mountain College, near Asheville, North Carolina.

Much is made of Dawson's respect for his (principal?) teacher Charles Olson and the artist Fritz Kline, although the de Koonings, Robert Creeley, and Jonathan Williams are mentioned a few times. Dawson is quick to voice his admiration for Buckminster Fuller, although there is no other mention of the great man. The sexual activities, both hetero and homo, were interesting, although I skipped over a very laborious erection - the Tobacco Barn.

Nevertheless, this is a really significant insight into the Black Mountain College experiment.