Poet Philip Gross is becoming something of the dark horse worth placing a bet on. Having won the UK's top poetry prize back in January, for one book, The Water Table, he has now won Welsh Book of the Year, for another - this time the captivating I Spy Pinhole Eye (perfect for the themes of this blog) - published by vital up-and-coming small press Cinnamon. The book has photographs by Simon Denison. More power to Mr Gross. He's one of the very best poets Britain has on tap right now. Order this book and see what the fuss is about.
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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