Thom Gunn

Sep 19, 2023 | poetryfoundation.org | Thom Gunn |Andrew McMillan

The snail pushes through a green night, for the grass is heavy with water and meets over the bright path he makes, where rain has darkened the earth’s dark. He moves in a wood of desire, pale antlers barely stirring as he hunts. I cannot tell what power is at work, drenched there with purpose, knowing nothing. What is a snail’s fury?

Aug 31, 2023 | themarginalian.org | Maria Popova |Ellen Bass |Jane Hirshfield |Thom Gunn

“Gardening is like poetry in that it is gratuitous, and also that it cannot be done on will alone,” the poet and passionate gardener May Sarton wrote as she contemplated the parallels between these two creative practices — parallels that have led centuries of beloved writers to reverence the garden. No wonder Emily Dickinson spent her life believing that “to be Flower, is profound Responsibility.” No wonder Virginia Woolf had her epiphany about what it means to be an artist in the garden.

Jun 26, 2023 | poetryfoundation.org | Thom Gunn |Henri Cole |T. S. Eliot |W. H. Auden

Reading a selected poems is a little like taking part in one of those guided walking tours that my in-laws often enjoyed. If you already know the location well, there’s interest in seeing which parts the guide will highlight. If the terrain is new, then you get curated memories, a certain signposted path through other people’s lives and glimpses of a more panoramic history. You’ll feel more confident in going off and exploring on your own another time.