I was initially sorry to hear that the Lib-Lab deal couldn't be brokered; I was also teary-eyed at hearing Gordon Brown resign, on the BBC; but I am, today, curiously revived by the feeling of a fresh, and yes, historic start, for this new Conservative-Lib Dem coalition. Nick Clegg as Deputy PM isn't bad, with Vince Cable overseeing banking. Some of the fairer tax and voting concerns I voted for may be taken into account. I remain deeply suspicious of the Tory anti-Europe, pro-Trident positions, and their general indifference to progressive issues, but the first coalition of its kind since World War Two is worth trying, and worth watching. These aren't strange days, but different days, indeed. Clegg's up, after all.
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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