He moved to Bristol, where, in 1970, he founded the performance group, the \u2018Riff Raff Poets\u2019 together with Jeff Cloves and Pat van Twest which continued until the latter\u2019s death in 2008. They were a lively presence at Glastonbury Festivals, Green Gatherings and protest camps where they provided many a barbed riposte to the barbed-wire outposts of the industrial-military complex.<\/p>\n
Dennis and co-editor Jeff Cloves also worked closely with illustrator Clifford Harper to design Visions of Poesy: An Anthology of Anarchist Poetry<\/em>, published by Freedom Press in 1994. Favourites again included the beat poets \u2013 he has forged a long acquaintance with Lawrence Ferlinghetti \u2013 the Romantics and of course Gloucestershire\u2019s own beloved Laurie Lee.<\/p>\n More than a quarter of a century ago, Dennis was given the opportunity to try letterpress to produce some of his work. Enthralled by the experience, he also realised that control over the process ensured more autonomy in the production of his work. Since at least the time of William Tyndale, rebels \u2013 and nervous authorities \u2013 have realised that control of printing and the written word means the control of information and power. The development of cheap offset lithography advanced a revolution in people\u2019s radical media in the 1960s, bringing the capacity for cheaper printing within the means of local groups.<\/p>\n In Dennis Gould\u2019s hands letterpress is radical technology in the field of art and design. He uses bespoke fonts for to make his own highly distinctive posters and cards. He is both the composer and compositor of poetry. Both versifying and printing require the careful selection of the right elements for the right place. Dennis\u2019s use of letterpress enables him to combine the abstract and aesthetic qualities of poetry with tactile physical materials. He prints onto high-quality handmade papers and recycled textiles, maps and even playing cards. Other ingredients that go into his art are good quality inks, jazz, anarchy, football, bicycles, protest, images of the natural world as well as generous amounts of skill, concentration and patience. The distinctive letter press posters, postcards and leaflets that result can be seen throughout Gloucestershire and in numerous anti-war and anarchist publications.<\/p>\n Today Dennis is an elder no-statesman among West Country anarchists. He is also a pamphleteer, cyclist, habitu\u00e9 of The Woolpack in the Slad Valley (once Laurie Lee\u2019s local) allotment gardener, former football referee and still loves to recite poetry. He is a familiar face in Stroud where he runs a Saturday street stall to distribute his prints, produced in his workshop in the town centre at the Star Anise Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n Poet and letterpress artist Dennis Gould began the early 1960s in Stafford Prison. Serving with the Royal Engineers during the 1950s, he later took up the cause of the Committee of 100, the direct-action wing of the anti-nuclear movement, carrying out acts of non-violent civil disobedience for which he was detained at her Majesty\u2019s pleasure. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[198,184,189,190],"tags":[997,1005,1002,1003,417,932],"class_list":["post-9121","events","type-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-anarchism-2","category-modern-history-post-world-war-ii","category-radical-bristol","tag-997","tag-anti-nuclear-movement","tag-dennis-gould","tag-exhibitions","tag-gloucestershire","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Dennis-Gould-wearing-Stroud-Football-Poets-shirt-300x225.jpg\")