Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sunshine Supermen: Augustin meets Donovan


Sporting a cover (and interior images) that would not have been out of place on the sleeve of the singer's 'Sunshine Superman' or other psychedelic-flavoured outings of the late 60s and onwards, Dedalus German poet Michael Augustin is seen here presenting a copy of Mickle Makes Muckle, his Dedalus Press selected writings, to Donovan (Leitch) after the pair met recently on the set of a German TV show called 'Vinyl'.

Appreciation of the popular music-lyric-poetry connection is, of course, essential to any understanding of what poetry has been up to in recent decades. It is also interesting to note how the revolutionary visuals of record sleeves in turn have caused a re-examination of how poetry itself might or should be presented.

"Any trick in the book now, baby, all that I can find," as Mr Leitch sang all those years ago. And he was and is in good company. Was it Oscar Wilde who said something about a fool being someone who doesn't judge a book by its cover?

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