The BBC Radio 4 Today Programme today revealed a rather lax attitude towards poetry. The reporter describing what the Oxford Professor of Poetry post entails described it, chuckling, as "a pretty good gig" - with a stipend and "only" having to "do" a few lectures. This belittles one of the more arduous, intellectually demanding, and serious lecture series in the world devoted to poetry - perhaps the most serious. Muldoon's and Heaney's contributions, to name only two, are among their best critical writing and speaking. Anyway. They then interviewed Paula Claire, who I admit Eyewear belittled when she entered the race - a fact I regret now. When Claire explained why she had dropped out - for being described by the Oxford online authorities running the election as a "performer" and not a poet, the BBC radio chap chuckled (a lot of chuckling) and said it didn't seem "a big deal". Claire rightly observed that in the UK, to be called a performer not a poet is a way of sometimes undercutting the value of the work. Finally, as the spot ended, they said they hoped Michael Horovitz would win, so he could play his "anglosaxophone". Which is a fine sentiment, but rather biased. Equal time for Hill?
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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To be honest I thought that Paula Claire came across as a typically paranoid poet. I was going to vote in this election but since I'm blithely indifferent to the outcome, I don't think I'll bother.
Best wishes from Simon