Brian Patten

Brian Patten was one of the ‘Liverpool Poets’ along with Roger McGough and Adrian Henri. Born in 1946 he is the youngest of the three by some 9 years. In 1967 an anthology of their poems ‘The Mersey Sound’ was published and went on to become one of the best selling poetry anthologies of modern times.

Brian came to live in Winchester from around the date of publication of ‘Liverpool Poets’ and befriended people at the Winchester School of Art including Heinz Henghes. In about 1971 he gave Heinz one of his poems ‘The sculptor’s favourite dream’ which he dedicated to him. The typed poem was stuck to a piece of art paper and for a time it was pinned up in Heinz’ studio, the page becoming patinated with studio dust and grime.

After Heinz died Brian dedicated Grave Concerns, a volume of his poetry to him. A poem specifically about the death of his friend is called ‘The Last Gift’. It starts with a conversation between them:

H.H.‘What’s the story about?’
B.P.‘About a mouse that gets eaten by an eagle.’
H.H.‘Poor mouse.’
B.P.‘No, the mouse becomes part of the eagle.’
H.H.‘Lucky mouse. Perhaps I’ll be that lucky.’

The poem goes on to speculate on the various forms in which Heinz might be reincarnated ‘the contradiction of blossom on a stunted apple tree’, ’scent of foxglove’, ‘fish or glow-worm’ or ‘a moth with no memory of flame’. The poem contains the lines:

Astonished in moments of clarity to realize
how all that surrounds me has passed
again and again through death,
I still strut without understanding
between an entrance of skin and an exit of soil.

Writing in 2004 of his memories of Heinz, Brian observed that: ‘he fed out his friendship in a long slow line that could be withdrawn if he felt offended’. ‘Heinz lived by his own light and I guess as you grow older it is a far harder thing to do than the young imagine’. ‘I remember the studio, cold and damp, by the cathedral, it looked like the kind of place a student could live in – very undomestic. An unmade bed, a bottle of wine, unwashed cups and centre stage the work’.

Brian Patten died aged 79 on the 29th September 2025