Six Summer Starlings

First came across Frank O’Hara after a recommendation by me friend Jane. I bought his selected in Foyles and didn’t get far. Later, oddly, reading Armitage brought me back to O’Hara and I loved him as lots of people do! Here’s a nice little article on why you should too. Also: DON DRAPER.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140626-the-poet-of-the-mad-men-era

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Have you read this series of posts on nostalgia from the Worlds Literature Festival in Norwich? George Szirtes is writing up reports on the ‘provocations’ and responses. Well-written and genuinely thought provoking. To think! Such things for free!  

http://georgeszirtes.blogspot.com/2014/06/nostalgia-homeache-worlds-literature_25.html

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This is a link to an article from the 6^th in the ‘Nostalgia’ series on George Szirtes’ blog. It’s provocative stuff and passionately written, certainly made me worried I’m too complacently descriptive.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/08/2013823182256649433.html

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Barthes. Or is it Bart? Roland. Came across some of his ideas through the introduction to George Szirtes Collected Poems. Then my academic wife seems to like him too, want to read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_Lucida_(book)

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Billy Collins. There, I’ve said it. The name, the very name is enough to form a grimace of distaste on the face of the disdainful snobs of Poetry. But Billy Collins is bloody great if you don’t over indulge (bit like Rocky Road) and these animations are smart and lovely. 

http://www.bcactionpoet.org/index.html

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So I finally got some quality time with Mista Lawrence tonight. I had no idea that the tortoise poems existed. Read them aloud and found them rambunctious and rubbishly fantastic in the way Lawrence does things. Read a sampler here:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176804