Re: R.I.P. Naomi Lewis, 97 (British poet and translator of H.C. Andersen)
- From: Brian <brian4052003@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:27:41 -0700 (PDT)
On Jul 9, 7:33 pm, Lenona <lenona...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
<snip>
Thank you for a comprehensive bibliography of Naomi's work. It is an
extraordinary lifetime's achievement.
Susan Curtis, who wrote an obituary for her in the Guardian has
created a Wikipedia page about her life, concentrating particularly on
her literary career. But her driving passion was for the care of mis-
treated animals - she got really upset by stories of cruelty, such as
bear-baiting, fox-hunting and bull fights. She ate only vegan food,
she allowed no leather in her house, and when she went out she would
always have a handful of brown bread crumbs and a pair of nail
scissors in her pocket to lure any pigeon that had got tied up in a
piece of string or plastic. With a lunge faster than the eye could see
she would gather up the bird, snip the encumbrance free, and release
it. There was a television programme about her doing this - she freed
on average 300 a year, she claimed. It was her concern for the
pressures which the human population makes on animals which made her
decide never to have children.
Her love of animals also made her particularly sensitive to the needs
of needy and disadvantaged individuals, a number of whom she helped a
great deal.
Her permanent memorial is a little garden on the East side of the
front entrance to Omnium Court, 20 Princeton Street, not far from
Halsey House where she lived. Deliberately maintained in a style akin
to the interior of her flat when I first knew her - an air of mild
creative chaos - it is watered and kept up by her friends and
neighbours.
Brian Blandford
.
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