A curious incident this morning: as Eyewear came home from Heathrow by cab, around 7 am, I spotted a handsome youngish man in a dark designer suit bicycling alone in North Kensington. It was the Leader of the Opposition and likely future PM Mr David Cameron. Not wasting a moment, I asked the driver to stop, stepped out and briefly chatted with the somewhat startled cyclist. I wished him a sporting good luck, and he thanked me, and sped off. Oddly, and impressively, he seemed genuinely unattended by ostentatious security of any kind. Sometimes the UK is impressive for its eccentric and open ways - suggestive that Britain is not all that broken. Note, thought, he was not wearing a helmet! And, on top of Sam Cam's lack of a seat belt the other day, that's a security risk too far. Safety first, lady and gentleman, please!
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