Tom Pickard (born 1946,
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is a
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
,
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
maker who was an important initiator of the movement known as the
British Poetry RevivalThe British Poetry Revival is the general name given to a loose poetic movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry.- Beginnings :...
.
Pickard left school at the age of fourteen. He met
Basil BuntingBasil Cheesman Bunting was a significant British modernist poet whose reputation was established with the publication of Briggflatts in 1966. He had a lifelong interest in music that led him to emphasise the sonic qualities of poetry, particularly the importance of reading poetry aloud...
and was instrumental in the older poet's return to writing in the early 1960s.
From 1963 to 1972, Pickard ran the
Morden TowerThe Morden Tower in Back Stowell Street on the West Walls of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade 1 listed building. For the last 45 years Connie Pickard has been custodian of Morden Tower, and has made it a key fixture of Newcastle's alternative cultural life...
Book Room, where he organised a series of readings by
BritishBritish literature refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands as well as to literature from England, Wales and Scotland prior to the formation of the United Kingdom....
and
AmericanThe poetry of the United States arose first during its beginnings as the constitutionally unified thirteen colonies . Unsurprisingly, most of the early colonists' work relied on contemporary British models of poetic form, diction, and theme...
modernistModernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1930 in the tradition of modernist literature; the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases of the critic setting the dates...
tradition poets. He also ran the Ultima Thule Bookshop between 1969 and 1973. During this period, he also travelled in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to renew friendships with some of the American Morden Tower readers, including
Allen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet. Ginsberg is best known for the poem "Howl" , in which he celebrates fellow members of the Beat Generation and critiques what he saw as the destructive forces of materialism and conformity in the United States.-Early life and family:Ginsberg was born into...
,
Robert CreeleyRobert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
and
Ed DornEdward Merton Dorn was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. His most famous work is Gunslinger.-Overview:...
.
In 1973, Pickard moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and started writing radio and
documentary filmDocumentary film is a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to "document" reality. Although "documentary film" originally referred to movies shot on film stock, it has subsequently expanded to include video and digital productions that can...
scripts. His film credits include
Jarrow March (1976),
We Make Ships (1988),
Birmingham is What I Think With--about the poet Roy Fisher(1991) and
The Shadow and the Substance (1994). He directed the last three of these films. In 1974, his television play
Squire was broadcast by the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
. In London he collaborated with Moira Kelly of Air Gallery to run an international poetry series which later transfered to The Riverside Studio under David Gotthard.
Pickard's poetry owes much to his reading of Bunting and of the
Black Mountain poetsThe Black Mountain poets, sometimes called projectivist poets, were a group of mid 20th century American avant-garde or postmodern poets centered on Black Mountain College.-Background:...
, but it is also rooted in his own urban
working classWorking class is a term used in academic sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe, depending on context and speaker, those employed in lower tier jobs as measured by skill, education, and compensation....
NorthumbriaNorthumbria or Northhumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now north-east England and southern Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory: the Humber...
n background. His publications include
High on the Walls (1968),
The Order of Chance (1971),
Hero Dust: New and Selected Poems (1979),
Tiepin Eros: New and Selected Poems (1994),
fuckwind (1999)
Hole in the Wall: New and Selected Poems (2002,
The Dark Months of May ([2004]) and
Ballad of Jamie Allan ([2007]). The last three books published by Flood Editions. Ballad of Jamie Allan was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 2004 he was commissioned by Sage Gateshead and Folkworks to write a libretto, Ballad of Jamie Allan, for the composer
John HarleJohn Harle is an English saxophonist and composer. Attracted to minimalist music, he became a founding member of the Michael Nyman Band, with which he performed from 1981-1999.-Biography:...
. The opera was premiered in 2005. A CD of Ballad of Jamie Allan (with Omar Ebrahim, Sarah Jane Morris, Kathryn Tickell, Bill Paterson, the Northern Sinfonia with
Steve LodderSteve Lodder is a British keyboardist, composer, and organist.Lodder played piano as a child and took up organ at age 14; he studied organ at Gonville and Caius College. After completing his studies he taught music and wrote for film and television...
and Neil MacColl).
He collaborated with John Harle again in 2009 writing the words for 'A Song for London Bridge', a piece for saxophone and choir and organ. It had its premiere on the 22nd of June at Southwark Cathedral with Harle on saxophone, the Kings College Choir, Cambridge conducted by Stephen Cleobury and the organ played by David Goode.
Pickard has worked throughout his career with many musicians including Alan Hull (of Lindsifarne), Peter Kirtley and Liane Carroll, Ben Murray and Rosie Doonan, Tarras, Paul McCartney amongst others.
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