Yesterday, one of my closest and most beloved family members died. I will write more, in the fullness of time, here, and elsewhere, but not yet.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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Still, my sympathies, and more importantly, my prayers. Losing someone close is always hard, and, at Christmas, so much more.
I see from your post http://toddswift.blogspot.com/2008/11/poetry-and-religion.html that you are a man who wonders about the mystery of what may be out beyond. And you note well poetry is the standard of faith.
"One day, the poet who seeks a new religion may find an old faith waiting for him, where his journey began."
I am not among the atheist poets. If you also are not, remember the god who saves you. And, try CS Lewis' processing of his wife's death with his own faith in "A Grief Observed."
To quote poet John Donne, "As he that fears God fears nothing else, so, he that sees God sees everything else."
Please accept my heartfelt condolences.
Happy New Year!