Kim Lockwood reviews To Build My Shadow A Fire, The Poetry and Translations of David Wevill, ed., Michael McGriff ( Kirksville , Missouri : Truman State University Press, 2010) by David Wevill To Build My Shadow A Fire should position Wevill as a cornerstone of the poetic canon. This is no mean feat, as many of his contemporaries – Atwood, Larkin, Heaney, Hughes, Lowell and Plath – are part of a mainstream cultural consciousness: they’re poets who people who know nothing about poetry, know about. That Wevill doesn’t already lead this list is staggering. His work has won numerous awards, and spans forty-five years and several continents, drawing from his birth in Japan , his youth in Canada , emigration from North America to England and subsequent return. In terms of willingness and ability to address social and personal identity, it’s difficult to think of a poet better deserving of mainstream attention. McGriff’s selection highlights the thematic preoccupation...
POETRY, POLITICS, PROVOCATION AND POPULAR CULTURE SINCE 2005 - 20 YEARS AND over 10 million visits - British Library-archived