Well, the ho-hum news is in. After apparently scouring the globe for the 50 best poems of the year, and with a super star list of judges, here is the shortlist. There are not really many well-known or established Irish or British poets here, and, frankly, few if any major Canadian or American poets either. Comparing this list to the Best American, Canadian or British anthologies, the level of quality and relevance is startling. The Montreal Poetry Prize needs to do a lot better in encouraging established, talented poets from across the English-speaking world to submit - and they probably need a better system of feeding poems to their main judge. It is a good idea, and hopefully, in time, will amount to something noteworthy.
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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I don't understand your complaint about there not being enough 'established' poets, particularly if you haven't read the poems in question. You seem to be dismissing these people not on the strength of their poems but because they are not as famous as people like us.
I personally welcome an anthology that is more interested in the poetry than the personality. Wanting to foreground the poem rather than elevating mediocre poets with more talent for social networking than writing quality gear.
Congratulations on receiving your PhD. At this rate, you'll soon be joining 'Sir Motion' in the House of Lords!
Best wishes from Simon & Rusty
Also, remember that last year's National Poetry Competition winner, Paul Adrian, was an unknown. Not every well-known poet wins competitions. That's the beauty of them. Anyone can enter and possibly win.