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Poetry and Poets of Poland [58]
There was one American poetess
Stevie Smith was an excellent British poet. An occasional poster here went to the same school as her, albeit decades apart. Her work is quite dark sometimes and often has religious themes however she's certainly one of the greats.
Toria Garbutt is an interesting poet. I'd never have thought I'd like someone described as a 'punk poet' however I like her stuff. She's fairly local to me and it's good to hear poetry read out in my own accent,
meat and bones needed for a good poem
One of the finest living poets in the English language (perhaps even the best) is Tony Harrison. He uses themes from classical mythology and blends very traditional with contemporary. His translations of Moliere were so good that they were translated back into French. If Ant likes 'meat and bones' as mentioned above, he'd find plenty there. He is also a playwright, again drawing on classical traditions.
His poem "A cold coming" about the first Iraq war is particularly well-regarded. I've seen it reduce people to tears when read out. And his filmed poem "Black daisies for the bride" (filmed in an old-fashioned hospital for dementia sufferers) is considered an important poem. He's done several pieces like that one where he combines the spoken word with film and music.
When his best known work, V, was televised in the 80s various minor right-wing rentagob politicians were hugging and puffing in parliament before the TV transmission because it contains some obscene words (the poem was written after his parents' grave had been graffitied by football hooligans). You'd think a conservative would like it since it's very much in the classical idiom and is quite anti-modern however it turned out that none of the huffing and puffing Tories had actually read it before criticising. This produced a famous riposte. One of the sillier conservatives (Gerald Howarth) said; "Probably another bolshie poet wishing to impose his frustrations on the rest of us".When told of this, Tony Harrison replied that Howarth was "Probably another idiot MP wishing to impose his intellectual limitations on the rest of us"
He must be well in his 80s now. He was married to the opera singer Teresa Stratas for many years. I've met him several times (in connection with his plays) and bought him a drink now and again.
The poem V is easily found online however I recommend the 1985 TV version where he reads it out. It's on YouTube in full. If you've a few minutes it's very worth watching.
