Wednesday, September 22, 2010

ABC Wednesday
J is for Jocelynne Preciouse (1930 - 2010)


© 2009, Jocelynne Precious

It was in June that I learnt Jocelynne Precious had died suddenly. I knew her as the editor of the magazine Curlew. We first met in the mid-70s at meetings of the Yorkshire Federation of Small Presses. In more recent times she would ring me up about three times a year to talk about poets and small press matters. She never had a computer but would look things up on the Internet at the library in Harrogate.

Jocelynne studied under Clifford Ellis at Bath Academy of Art (aka "Corsham"). One of the art teachers there was William Scott who taught her painting. She was a member of Harrogate Writers' Circle.

Issue 64 of Curlew is a chapbook collection by Jocelynne called SWIMMING IN THE NORTH SEA.
trying to stay afloat
trying to make sense of it all
and on the straight horizon
a long slim boat
A number of the poems (like the one above) are reproduced from hand-written manuscript rather than typescript.


Issue 65 has work by Neil Leadbeater, Daniel Healy, Peter Asher, John Younger and A C Evans. The cover design is by Peter Precious.

Issue 66 was the 1st issue of Chaucer described as
An occasional publication covering literature and the Arts; philosophy; history & current affairs; genre fiction (science fiction/fantasy/crossover) humour; reviews, criticism, correspondence.
Referring to House of Fame, Steve Sneyd asks
"Did Chaucer indeed see the far future in this long narrative poem of 1379, its title, after all, derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses and thus backward, not forward, looking?"
Rodney Noon answers the question "Where do you write?" and there are poems by Anne Grant and Alan Hardy.

Patricia Prime reviewed her collection THE SURPRISING SUMMER for NHI Review where you can also find reviews of Curlew issues ##51, 52, 54, 56. Elsewhere on this blog are reviews of ##57, 58 and also ##59, 60

A stalwart of the small press scene since the 70s, she will be much missed.

For more J posts visit ABC Wednesday.

9 comments:

  1. Lovely tribute to Jocelynne Preciouse as well as a wonderful post for the J Day! Hope you have a good week!

    Sylvia

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  2. She sounds a very special person, thank you for sharing the poems.

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  3. I'm sorry she's no longer here - you've posted a moving tribute!

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  4. Sorry for your loss, and the written word's loss as well.

    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  5. A poignant posting, - thank you for sharing this tribute.

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  6. This was such an interesting read. I learn so much from all of you on ABC Wednesday.

    Thank you!

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  7. A warm tribute and a nice read. "Trying to make sense of it all..." indeed.

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  8. Thank you for reminding us of people like Jocelynne and for the small presses which give so many more artists a chance to be heard and seen. And so many more people a chance to see and hear them.
    HelenMac, ABC team

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  9. I did not know of Jocelynne Preciouse writings. Thank you for sharing this tribute to her with us.
    I am sympathetic to her way of writing with pen and paper. (I still do! I have had bad luck with writing directly on the computer and having it all just disappear!)
    She must have been a very special and a very wise woman.
    Best wishes,
    Anna
    Anna's J-word (abc-Wed rd-7)

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