Graeme Richardson
@ravoon
Poetry Critic for the Sunday Times. Anglican Priest. Poetry Collection, "Dirt Rich", out from Carcanet. TLS contributor since 2010. All views very much my own.
Putting suncream on my kids today I was reminded of this brilliant and beautiful Ange Mlinko poem
Kind of charmed by this statue of Thomas Mann with his dog by the Tegernsee - not charmed enough to finish one of his books, mind...
I really admire Emily Wilson, but I find this (and much of the LRB review around it) just silly. And weirdly immature. If you would genuinely "be ashamed" to have written "any part" of a script in a successul much-seen film, your privilege is showing.
When I first read this Larkin poem (a long time ago) it seemed a triumph of concision. But now I think it's vast and sprawling and mysterious.
Not the biggest Mary Oliver fan, but I love Schumann, and I was surprised by this lovely poem in her new Penguin Selected:
Whenever these words pop in to my head (as they do today) I think they are my favourite lines in all of English poetry
I like this, the closing poem of John Challis's new book, "The Green Parcel" -
Haha, yes. This was one of Yuri's predecessors - Barney, the Terror of the Thames.
It's not often I admire TS Eliot in his interactions with women, but I do here, when he meets Lynette Roberts (and family):
Nice to see Ronald Knox mentioned here - the book about him and his brothers by his niece Penelope Fitzgerald is worth a read. Also a gifted light verser - he wrote this at Eton, calling for a garden in the schoolyard
The anonymous person who thinks Tristram Fane Saunders is boring sounds a lot like Tristram Fane Saunders...
Kingsley Amis - "New Approach Needed". I used to read this every Good Friday. Far more useful than something pious. I like its belligerence: "Tell your Dad that from me"
Here's a George Dillon sonnet, a favourite of mine - maybe he was too fluent, but sometimes going with the flow can work.
Yuri's nose-to-brain ratio gets him into trouble sometimes but it also makes me laugh
This is a lovely thing - from @rorywaterman.bsky.social in the latest terrific @badlilies.bsky.social
Good piece by Mathew, but I think it's likely JC was right about Barker -
...winner of the TS Eliot prize - and I can now complete this old tweet from @nemoloris.bsky.social