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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Comments
It all makes for interesting reading and it's certainly good to hear it being given a wider airing here.
I can't help but think when I hear persons such as Martin Amis declaring the death of poetry that we're in for another round of evaluation, re-evalution and general head-nodding and shaking. I'm sure every generation does this.
Another post you wrote, I think about C. Day Lewis, struck home with me when I picked up an anthology compiled around the early part of the 20thc. Most of the poets I had never heard of, and the overwhelming style of the book leaned towards the safe styling of the 19thc. Ah, I thought, here is another editor content to sit with the status quo, rather than challenge it.
Anyhoo, this wee comments box was never designed to contain 'thoughts on what makes poetry poetry,' but it is nice to be provoked.