Marcus Cumberlege

Marcus passed away on 30th December 2018, aged 80.

This website will remain as a memorial to his wit, his wisdom, his love, his work.

Other memorials:

For many messages of memories and condolences, and for many more poems by Marcus, see his
Facebook timeline.

“Make time work for you.
Enjoy every moment.
Don’t give a damn.”

marcus_deskp

Marcus Cumberlege wrote much in lyrical stanzas, but he was no stranger to prose poetry, cut-up, automatic writing, haiku, concrete and the extended line.

For nearly forty years he was a familiar figure in Bruges, collaborating with poets, artists and musicians, organizing readings and encouraging the younger generation. His daughter is married and living in France.

From 2014, Marcus posted a Poem of the Month to this website: see the link ‘Posts to this website‘ (also in the menu column on the left) to see them all. Many of them are otherwise unpublished.

“Poems are simply pictures
Painted with second-hand words
Sold in the shops of the moon
And fed like crumbs to the birds.”

Book publications 2017 – 2018:

“Today is the tomorrow
that worried you yesterday.
It’s all you have.
Embrace it.
It will never go away.”

 

Online publication:

For many years Marcus had been getting up before dawn and writing his own meditations and prayers for personal use. Their outspokenly spiritual content is destined to overcome “morning blues” and make the reader “feel good” – cheerful, lively and able to face the day ahead with joy. Marcus regarded Morning Meditations as his most important single published work to date.

You may download Morning Meditations here. Feel free to print it out and use it as you wish. Marcus made no charge whatsoever for the use of these texts and only asked that his name be mentioned if they are reprinted.

“Be honest. Keep big words on ice
when a little gesture will suffice.”

Photo of Marcus by Hendrik Vandewalle