I've been getting some eye-opening comments, from readers like Paul Sutton, who find Eyewear inane. Perhaps. But another way to read it is as an ephemeral grab-bag of posts featuring poetry reviews, pop culture, and random musings, that, every so often, takes risks, and does good work. I agree - some of the posts are blog-worthy only (it is a blog). However, there are numerous featured poets, and reviewers, who share their work on here as well. I admit to having fun, sometimes, by being banal. Like everyone else, I live in a media-saturated world, of scandalous trials, dead movie stars, and James Bond. Between the inanity, I hope, readers can squint enough to catch a glimmer, if even rarely, of more valid, and valuable work. Not all of it self-directed. Though, as Mr. Sutton et al. should be aware, almost all writers now keep blogs, or web sites, where they inform readers of their doing - with the decline of marketing budgets, and the rise of small presses, few writers can afford the luxury of letting their publisher get word of their work out there. It's naive to think otherwise. As for "fame". You don't write poetry to make money or become famous.
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
I couldn't agree more. If your blog gets 3000 page views per day on average, there must be an awful lot of 'inane' people out there. Although your posts are of varying quality (how could they not be?) you have always struck me as someone with their index finger right on the pulse of contemporary British poetry. Indeed, I think the fact that you grew up in Canada only enhances your capacity to view the British poetry scene in an objective and impartial light.
Best wishes from Simon
I have no problem at all with poets (or anyone else) publicizing forthcoming activities. However, I feel a line has been crossed when a poet conducts a feud with an editor who has omitted him from an anthology, or when a poet periodically threatens to close down his blog unless people start paying attention. And don't deny that you're desperate to be invited to pontificate on "Newsnight Review". How paltry, to aspire to the crown of that Prince of Mediocrity, Mark Lawson.
This from Roddy Lumsden, snotty Facebooker and professional blog comment sniper? Pot, kettle, and black!