It is an apt time for Don Paterson 's Selected Poems to come out from Faber (mine is in the post) - because it cements his status as the next poet down the rung from Paul Muldoon , in terms of British/Irish poets of ludic excellence, working in the less-avant garde part of the field. And now here comes Jon Stone , whose School of Forgery is the Poetry Book Society Recommendation currently. I spoke with Stone last night, at the same time as Owen Sheers , and it was a pleasure to be in the company of two major if opposed English stylists, who both dress well. Stone, in person, is slight, slim, dapper, and very pleasant. He has the manners of a modest dandy. His poetry is entirely predicated on the artifice, puzzling, and pop culture nous that one associates with Muldoon, Paterson, and, perhaps, Roddy Lumsden , but also, differently, is more directly influenced by Japanese culture. No British stylist since Wilde has so openly celebrated their Japonisme. ...
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