Remembering Eddie Cummins…..
by Bernie Bell - 07:58 on 20 July 2023
Remembering Eddie Cummins…..
I was contacted by Elizabeth Reed, of North Carolina, America. Elizabeth read an article I wrote in which I express my appreciation of the poetry of Eddie Cummins https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/12/05/theres-always-an-orkney-connection/ .
Having known Eddie when she stayed in Orkney and when he was in America, when visiting Orkney next year Elizabeth hoped to visit his grave and asked did I know where he is buried. I didn’t, and thought that the best way to ‘get the word out there’ would be to put a letter in the ‘Orcadian’ and ‘The Orkney News’ asking for information.…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2023/07/19/letters-readers-can-you-help/
I received a response from ‘LS’ letting us know that…
“Eddie was cremated. His ashes were scattered into the sea beside the old pier at The Sands Of Evie”
We know the place well – and will send a thought to Eddie next time we’re there.
It’s very fitting that he went into the sea which played such a large part in his life - and by Evie Sands – near his home.
I’m hoping that the tale of Elizabeth’s search for his last resting place will spark renewed interest in Eddie and his poetry.
This is the letter which I wrote to the ‘Orcadian’ when I first read ‘I Flame At Words’…
“Eddie Cummins – God love him!
I’m reading ‘I Flame At Words’, the book of Eddie Cummins’ poetry, and, what can I say? He speaks to us, he’s one of us, his words, flame at us, burning away the fakery of our lives. He’s one of those who are disregarded, until they die, then, suddenly, they shine, people like to say they knew them. In life, too difficult, too un-compromising, seeing too clearly, through a glass, darkly. In death, a poet, a writer, a painter, a “genius”, all of a sudden. But, not so, it was always there, but, people like people, who pull the right faces and make the right noises. It looks like Eddie “loud in his size, strength and smell”, was too much for many, and they were too much for him, ultimately. But look what he produced; ‘Torre de Belem’, ‘Which World is Really There?’, ‘Solitude’, ‘The Simmer Dim’, and on, and on, and on. Read them, and see.
I never met him, I’ve been told I would have “got on with him”, would I? I don’t know, I reckon we would have rowed a lot, but that would be, because, we could, row, that is, without a mis-understanding of what ‘rowing’ is. But this isn’t about me, it’s about Eddie Cummins, with eyes that no-one could ignore, no-one with eyes to see, that is.
The impression I get, is of a man who saw too clearly, felt too keenly, and expressed this well, and, because he expressed so well, he can now speak to us, who are also trying to deal with the world. He didn’t deal with it too well himself, but it still helps to meet some-one who’s seeing it, feeling it, even if the meeting is after they’ve ‘gone’. It helps a lot. For me, he’s in there, in power of perception, with Gerard Manly Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, Ted Hughes, John Clare. If he could have been in there with W.B. Yeats, Robert Graves and Walt Whitman, he might have been a happier man. They saw it, but could deal with it, he may have been happier, but he wouldn’t have been Eddie Cummins, big, mad, drunken poet.
Thanks, to his good friends Jim & Sheila Scott, for putting the collection together. Thanks, to Eddie himself, from me, and from all the people who will read his work and say “There’s one….”, and feel that Eddie’s by them, telling them not to let the bastards get them down. If only he could have taken that to heart himself, but then, he wouldn’t have been Eddie Cummins, and so it goes on.
And, he was a looker, too! Would it have pleased him to hear that – with his deep, though slightly puzzled, love of women?
Eddie Cummins, religious or not, God Love You, you’ll help a lot of people.
Bernie Bell
30 July 2010”
And I’ll say it again…. Eddie Cummins, religious or not, God Love You, you’ll help a lot of people.
Reading his poetry has helped me - that's for sure.
Do you know if there’s a collection of Eddies poetry, perhaps at the Orkney library? I contacted the British Library about donating ours but they suggested it may find a better home in Orkney.
Jim
I'm not aware of a collection of Eddie’s poetry at the Orkney Library/Archive - you could contact them to find out..
library@orkney.gov.uk
The Library staff are always helpful, and I should imagine that they would be delighted to have a collection of Eddie’s work - I'm envisioning a special exhibition/event to mark them taking it on!
If there is - I’ll be there - notebook in hand.
I’m also intrigued to hear what your connection with Eddie is/was? Would you mind telling the tale?
Sure, I’ll let you know what they say.
My connection to ‘Big Ed’, as I’ve always known him, goes back to the mid 80’s. We used to live at Woodwick House in Evie and Ed and my dad became good friends and maintained their friendship right until the end. Ed used to visit us often even when we sold Woodwick and my dad and I moved south. They went to Spain and Turkey together, where my dad had a boat for a while. As well as Wales, where Ed did some studying in around 1997 at Coleg Harlech.
Whenever I came back to Orkney for holidays to visit my mother I’d see if he was home and spend time with him often talking late into the night and walking my bike home in the pitch black.
Dad also passed last summer (a year ago this weekend) and Ed’s papers are amongst the last I’ve held onto.
I’ve added a temporary email address if you want to email me to see some of the papers I have.
Hello again
I tried to send you some pieces I wrote about Woodwick House for 'The Orkney News'- but Spanglefish won't let me include links!
Thank you for your email address – I’ll now mail you, and you’ll have my address too.
I’ll forward this to Elizabeth (Reed), as she would love to see anything connected with Eddie.
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