GETTING HIGHER: the complete mountain poems
(Birlinn, April 2011) Quirky, unexpected, ground-breaking – Andrew Greig’s 1977 mythic Mountain Quest poem Men On Ice became a cult read among climbers. It led to him being asked to climb on real Himalayan expeditions, which along with his classic account of the 1984 Mustagh Tower climb Summit Fever, produced a very different poetry. Time spent winter climbing in Scotland and in the High Atlas mountains were the starting point of Western Swing, the further adventures of the Men On Ice band. Finally returning to his beloved Scottish hills, he has produced a number of late celebrations of the mountains, of climbing, of living itself.
Here for the first time are the complete climbing poems – embodying exultation, fear, loss, endurance, intense living in extraordinary places – of a remarkable writer who found his core experiences and themes among the hills. They should connect to anyone who has ever spent time there
Here's a late poem from the 'Hills and High Waters' section
Little Green
‘We sometimes call her ‘Little Green’’
Because on the map she has no name,
I believe in the lochan ‘Little Green’
and her unnumbered Assynt sisters.
By road side, or unvisited for years,
they reflect the arc of sun,
the pass of wind and clouds.
At night, the moon’s turn.
Though it is mine if anyone’s,
I do not much trust my mind.
Those ragged icons bear the here
of this, the now of time.
Sources and witnesses…Little Green?
I have seen suns in her centre,
stars fold along her shore.
Below are some of James Hutcheson's illustrations, which feature in the book.
Here for the first time are the complete climbing poems – embodying exultation, fear, loss, endurance, intense living in extraordinary places – of a remarkable writer who found his core experiences and themes among the hills. They should connect to anyone who has ever spent time there
Here's a late poem from the 'Hills and High Waters' section
Little Green
‘We sometimes call her ‘Little Green’’
Because on the map she has no name,
I believe in the lochan ‘Little Green’
and her unnumbered Assynt sisters.
By road side, or unvisited for years,
they reflect the arc of sun,
the pass of wind and clouds.
At night, the moon’s turn.
Though it is mine if anyone’s,
I do not much trust my mind.
Those ragged icons bear the here
of this, the now of time.
Sources and witnesses…Little Green?
I have seen suns in her centre,
stars fold along her shore.
Below are some of James Hutcheson's illustrations, which feature in the book.
A WEE NOTE on STYLISTICS for GETTING HIGHER from Jim Hutcheson
Getting Higher (again . . .)Back in 1975, two young, bright-eyed musicians - Andrew Greig and James Hutcheson, were introduced to each other via a mutual musician mate who had also been at Edinburgh University. Jim was an illustrator for Canongate books at the time and when Greig said he had a book of poetry which might interest the publisher, he prepared some drawings to accompany the presentation. The folk at Canongate; Stephanie Wolfe Murray and Charles Wilde, were very interested and commissioned JH and AG to finish the project. This was to be called ‘Men on Ice’ - a book of poems with a distinctly Zen take on mountaineering, both physical and metaphorical.Also working for Canongate at this time was Ruari Maclean. He was a doyen of British Book design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruari_McLean) JH and RM had worked together on various projects including Antonia Fraser’s ‘Scottish Love Poems’ and Alasdair Gray's Lanark.Of particular interest to Jim and Andrew, was the fact that Ruari had worked on the Eagle comic for Marcus Morris in 1950. This comic, with it’s educational tales of derring do, had been one of their influences growing up in the 50s. Ruari had also worked with Berthold Wolpe (another stalwart of British Book Design) on various type headings within the comic - in fact, it was Wolpe who designed the Eagle masthead. As a homage to the comic, Dan Dare et al, Jim handpainted the lettering for ‘Men on Ice’ as a pastiche of the Eagle header. In those pre-digital days, the entire cover, front spine and back, was hand painted - actual size! He also provided all the illustrations for the interior of the book.Two more collaborative books followed in the eighties and nineties respectively: i.e. ‘Surviving Passages’ also Canongate and ‘Western Swing’ for Bloodaxe.In 2010, Andrew and Jim having met up again after some years, suggested to Neville Moir (ex-Canongate, but now a Director of Polygon) that the three books might be re-published as one volume. This idea was then extended to cover all the mountaineering poems and so also included poems from some other books; ‘This Life, This Life; New & Selected Poems’ and ‘At The Loch of the Green Corrie’It was decided that the new volume be entitled ‘Getting Higher’.With some trepidation, Jim dusted down a lot of the old drawings and these now re-appear along with some ‘out takes’ from the seventies + some new drawings. As a further tip of the hat to the Eagle comic, the title page of Getting Higher has been re-drawn using Wolpe’s original 1950s letter forms. JH.
AG: I have to say 'GETTING HIGHER' is the most visually various and satisfying book I've ever been involved in, full of elegant and witty solutions to complex and multiple elements of texts, sketches, illustrations, out-takes, facsimiles of manuscript drafts, handwritten notes. I love books as visuals, as objects containing extras and surprises - goes back to the LPs I knew way back when. Though we conferred a lot together, the credit for GH's design must go to Jim.
I love graphic novels, and have long wanted to co-produce a graphic poem - anyone graphic person out there who is interested, please get in touch!
