Becky kept her notes in Chartwell A4 hardback volumes of 160 pages. There are four of them represented here, beginning with the first, undated, entry in Spring 1991, when she returned to England, and ending with the final entry on Monday 3 May 1999, thirteen days before she died.
She wrote in pencil, legibly and freely, drafting and redrafting poems, stories and essays. She would tackle a difficult idea again and again to clarify its expression. Among these entries, she developed the habit of making verse-notes, a discipline of observing and exploring, written at speed directly into the book. Occasionally she would draw on one of these entries to inform a poem, but most remain as they were first written – fresh, unguarded, illuminated by their own discovery. These are the majority of the pieces here.
The selection has not been an easy task. We wanted to show something of the range of her notebooks while hinting, without unnecessary duplication, at her working methods. Inevitably, there is some repetition of phrasing between the notebook and a number of the finished poems. We have included some examples of this (the barest minimum necessary) to illustrate the patterns of association and thought in the shaping process.
Apart from the very rare spelling error, no corrections have been made – except that where she used US spellings, they have been altered. Dates have also been put in, to mark the beginnings of new years. Nothing else has been tidied up, but much has been omitted.
AB, AdC 2001
