Yesterday, a friend managed to drag me out for a quick drink and on my way home I stopped by the library bookstore. I found a small book of poetry (only $1 !!!) that had attracted me by its title: "Regarding Oblivion." After reading it I discovered that the poet, Gregory Wm. Gunn, lives in London, and his poetry is actually pretty amazing. I did a google search on his name and found several more of his poems online. Here's a sample from the book:
The Long Shot
you wait, your diffidence
multiplies, solicitous for out of
the blue felicities perhaps this
April afternoon to emerge, alone
by the banks of patina green
shallow waters called Prudence;
saturnine on the river's edge,
a sliver of sun's complicity
augments this stolid stoicism.
you wait patiently, yielding
assent to oneness, forgetting
the feminine equation. reading
Leibniz, Descartes and Kierkegaard;
expanding precious intellectual
horizons, fully aware few others'
interests are piqued not by high-
minded matters; no guarantees
weatherwise nor fervently.
showers, torrential downpours,
a violent thunderstorm you would
not be adverse to so as to make
you feel alive; connected to some
tangible portion of the immutable
laws of physics & mortal love.
thinking of other types of loves...
where the long shot maybe just
this once is the eventual winner.
And here's another one...not from the book.
Impinging Night
the impinging night
forever elegiac;
its drumming silence
steals my spirit.
sleep escapes again.
hell has returned
to this plane; its
inhabitants wish to do
as they please, placing
malcontented thoughts
within all minds on Earth,
sweet succubi of the late
night hour, transmogrify
into contorted conformists,
who lock into my darkened
daily regimen of hopelessness;
the impinging night
cannot be buried back
beneath mountains nor
wherever there is space
for humanity's filthiness.
nary a one apparently
notices that their souls have
turned into bombs, and their
bodies are rocket launchers,
trudging this rim of dust.
~ written by Gregory Wm. Gunn
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I found an email address for Mr. Gunn, so I emailed him to compliment him on his work. This was his response:
Hi Sphinx,
Much appreciation for your interest in my poetry. I have been honing this craft for over a quarter of a century now, and shall endeavour to do so with every hope of progressing to improve upon it. Never really assured of my advancing progress in the process) concerning these matters as every major CanLit. (that is, government funded, usually University-based, prestigious outfit has audaciously turned me away,) supported publication has yet to receive my verses with any sort of kind & warm heartedness. I've grown weary of such a high rejection rate; however, strive to only achieve new levels of perfection nonetheless. Myriad PoemHunter members have embraced me with their intelligent, heart-warming commentaries, and as a result, I shall continue onward and upward, leaving behind those who would have me succumb to their destructive critiques. Thank you once again.
Respectfully,
Greg
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