David UU (pronounced David W.), or David W. Harris, (1948–1994) was an accomplished concrete and experimental poet and an important

small press A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably. However, when a distinction ...

publisher. Along with Bill Bissett and

bpNichol Barrie Phillip Nichol (30 September 1944 – 25 September 1988), known as bpNichol, was a Canadian poet, writer, sound poet, editor, creative writing teacher at York University in Toronto and grOnk/Ganglia Press publisher. His body of work ...

, he was a pioneer of the

concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

movement in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and perhaps the first Canadian poet to explore visual

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

embodying literary, philosophical and language references. He also composed sound works (both musical & textual), made 8mm short films, was a master collagist/montagist and performed in numerous

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

exhibitions.

"And I should mention to you that my last name is...just UU, the original form of the English letter W, which is also how it's pronounced." - David UU (from a letter to M.A.C. Farrant, Oct 19, 1989)

Life

David W. Harris was born on June 13, 1948, in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Central Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay. Although it is physically in the county, Barrie is politically independent. The city is part ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The family moved to Collingwood in 1958, where he lived until setting out for

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1966. He left Toronto for

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 1968 and over the next decade relocated between Ontario and the west coast several times. In 1980 he settled in North Vancouver where he lived until finally moving to a farmhouse near

Delhi, Ontario Delhi (; ) refers to both a former township (Canada), township and unincorporated community located off of the junction of Ontario Highways Ontario Highway 59, 59 and Ontario Highway 3, 3. Delhi is known as the "Heart of Ontario tobacco belt, ...

in 1992 where he died in May 1994.

Career

On arriving in Toronto in 1966, Harris began working closely with

on various text and sound projects.New, William H. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Toronto: U of T Press, 2002. He participated in the founding of the concrete poetry magazine '' grOnk'' with David Aylward, bpNichol and Rah Smith. At this time he began exhibiting his visual poetry and collage worldwide, achieving some acclaim. Harris adopted the pseudonym David UU around 1970. In Vancouver in 1973 he helped organize ''Brasilia 73'', an international

show. He was a prolific

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and encouraged the talents of many Canadian writers early in their careers. He founded and operated Fleye Press (1966–70), Divine Order of the Lodge (1971–1975), Derwyddon Press (1976–81), Silver Birch Press (1987–94; later MindWare) as well as several magazines (Spanish Fleye and Luv for Poemz from Fleye Press in the mid 1960s and Lodgistiks from Derwyddon Press in the 1970s) and numerous imprints for

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

lets,

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a Hardcover, hard cover or Bookbinding, binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' ...

s, broadsides,

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...

s and other

ephemera Ephemera are items which were not originally designed to be retained or preserved, but have been collected or retained. The word is etymologically derived from the Greek ephēmeros 'lasting only a day'. The word is both plural and singular. On ...

Works

Due to the nature of his work, which included broadsides, pamphlets and postcards, the bulk of David's UU's work was

self-publish Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

ed. Two major editions are ''Chopped Liver'' (Toronto:

Coach House Press Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

, 1981) and ''High C – Collected Sound and Visual Poems 1965-1983'' (Toronto: Underwhich Editions, 1991). ''Very Sound'', an audiocassette of his sound poetry, was published by Underwhich Audiographics in 1984. Other publications include: POEMS NUMBERED ONE THRU SIX (Toronto, Ganglia Press, 1966) GIDEON MUSIC (Vancouver, Blewointmentpress, 1967) TOUCH (Toronto, Ganglia Press, 1967) MOTION/PICTURES (Toronto, Ganglia Press, 1969) PAMPLEMOUSSE (Vancouver, Blewointmentpress, 1969) GNOSTIC INVENTORY (Toronto, Ganglia Press, 197o) AURORA HYPERBOREALIS (Toronto, Divine Order Of The Lodge, 1971) BEFORE THE GOLDEN DAWN (Toronto, Weed/Flower Press, 1971) VIOLET PILOT LIGHTS (Vancouver, Blewointmentpress, 1974) METROPOLIS (Toronto, Curvd H&z, 1981) CLOSE ENCOUNTER (Toronto, Curvd H&z, 1983) SOUND CYCLE (Toronto, Underwhich Editions, 1986) STRAWBERRY TRIGGER (Toronto, Wendysstomack, 1988) INGRID OF THE THOUSAND EYES (Willowdale, Pangen Subway Ritual, 199o)

References

Sources

David UU, ''Correspondence with M.A.C. Farrant'', February 15, 1988 - May 17, 1994.

* ttp://www.ditchpoetry.com/daviduufeature.htm Gregg Simpson, May, 2010; ''Meeting David UU, a memoir''.
Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, List of Fonds and Collections, HARRIS, DAVID, 1948-1994 LMS-0217
* William H. New. Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. Toronto: U of T Press, 2002.

External links

* The archives of Davis Harris, known as David U
(David Harris fonds, R11747)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...