Edward Snowden is in all likelihood one of the greatest Americans of all time, in terms of bravery, principled action, and impact. Rather than vilifying him, President Obama - more than ever a Bushlite character - should be pardoning him and making him a national hero. One day there may be a Snowden statue in Washington. Snowden, unless his story proves a false cover, gave up a life of relative luxury as a spy in Hawaii, on a big salary, to potentially die or be imprisoned for life, simply to express - as is his American right - the need for human freedom, and for the US government to stop their Big Brotherish invasion. Or, perhaps you see him as an enemy, aiding those who would attack America? Perhaps he is that complex thing, like Socrates before him - the gadfly destined to be executed by the state, yet indispensable even in his most painful revelations and questioning of democracy. Either way, Eyewear opens up its pages to POETS FOR SNOWDEN. 10 years after 100 POETS AGAINST THE WAR, it is time for POETS FOR SNOWDEN. If you send them in, I will post them. Include name please and bio - don't worry, the NSA already know who you are anyway.
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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