WCW had his plumbs. Britain, and Northern Europe, continues to have volcanic plumes. This is getting more Day of the Triffids every hour. Over 100,000 Brits are stranded in the near abroad. Was it just me, or did the streets seem deserted in London today? Anyway, no one is panicking, yet. If this is prolonged, of course, the economy would collapse, and people would go mad. But not yet. My partner is one of those stranded. Eyewear is a bit at sea with all this compromised sky.
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
Comments