i.m. Geoff Hattersley (1956-2024)

Geoff Hattersley, who died yesterday, was one of the most outstanding but underrated poets of his generation, while his impact on other poets was so great that it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to suggest his emergence back in the 1980s transformed U.K. poetry. In fact, this influence will undoubtedly become a fundamental part of his legacy to the genre, alongside his idiosyncratic, top-notch poems.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was a pioneer in embracing American techniques and aesthetics, infusing them with the humour and character of oral language in Yorkshire society, and generating something new. I remember reading his work for the first time and suddenly waking up to the possibility of Transatlantic poetic communication far beyond expected channels.

Without his example, I find it difficult to imagine Simon Armitage writing Zoom!, as it shares numerous qualities with Hattersley’s poetry. What’s more, Zoom!, the current Poet Laureate’s first full collection, also includes several poems that were previously published in a pamphlet titled The Distance Between Stars, which was edited and brought out by Geoff Hattersley himself under his Wide Skirt imprint.

In the above context, given Armitage’s importance and relevance to the present-day scene, Geoff Hattersley’s contribution as an editor and publisher has been immense. As for his poetry itself, why not celebrate his life by getting hold of his most recent collection, Instead of an Alibi (Broken Sleep Books, 2023), recently the subject of an excellent review by Matthew Paulan excellent review by Matthew Paul for The Friday Poem and with a sample poem from it in The Guardian a couple of months ago…?