My Last Day Of Being 39

I was born on Good Friday, April 8, 1966.

I turn 40 tomorrow.

As most everyone I know has said, "40 is the new 30" - and, since 30 is the new 20, and 20 the new 10, I feel pretty young.

I actually thought this would be a moment of profound stock-taking. And it is, except, my first decision was to defer despair until 45, which is the new 40. 50 is now where middle-age, to me, kicks in. But I did make a list. See below...

12 THINGS I THOUGHT I WOULD HAVE ACHIEVED BY 40 BUT DIDN'T

Won an Academy Award
Made a Million Dollars
Six-pack Stomach
Grown Taller
Able to Speak Chinese Fluently
Been a Regular Guest on the Tonight Show
Drive
Successful Deployment of Goatee
Became Madonna's Close Friend
Paid Off Student Loans, etc.
Read War and Peace, Remembrance Of Things Past & Middlemarch
Lived In Tangiers

12 THINGS I HAVE ACHIEVED BY 40 BUT DIDN'T EXPECT

Married To A Wonderful Person
Gainful Employ
Poet-in-residence, Oxfam
Published a Bunch of Books (A Few Quite Good)
Got To Write Poem For A Royal Wedding
Review Books For Books In Canada
Lived in Cool Cities Like Budapest, Paris and London
MA (Distinction) From A Really Good Creative Writing Programme
Have Maintained Close Ties to Many Of My Dearest Friends
Don't Smoke, Jog Frequently, Rarely Ask For Second Helpings
Am Frequently Happy, Often Content, and Usually Optimistic
Flew To Japan For Many Hours Without Fear

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se. What do I mean by smart?

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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