The poet and journalist Jonathan Morrison has weighed in at his blog on the rise of a new wave of little magazines published by younger poet-critics in the UK, not least of them being the original, feisty Wolf, whose latest issue, #17, seems to be the best yet (especially because now it is perfect-bound, and ever larger). There are good articles on the new Ted Hughes Letters, and Mina Loy, as well as poems by Andrea Brady and others of note; and a fascinating interview with the poetry editors of Carcanet, BOA, Bloodaxe, etc. The Wolf's advisory panel is impressive, too: Carolyn Forche, John Kinsella and Robert Minhinnick know what they're doing, and also have an important eco-eye on things.
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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