Sad news. The contrarian journalist, pro-Iraq war polemicist, and outspoken atheist, Christopher Hitchens, has been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. I disagree with him on most things, except Orwell and waterboarding (the first he approved of, the second he proved was dreadful). I wish him a full and speedy recovery. I had terrible problems with my oesophagus last year, but have managed to overcome most of those issues (for now, at least). This is more serious, but I can empathise - discomfort of the gullet is terrible, and can be terrifying.
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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