[Mark Granier]

A good friend of mine died recently, Anthony Glavin. He also happened to be a superb poet, though one you may not have come across. He was included in David Marcus's Pan anthology, 'Irish Poets 1924-74', won the Patrick Kavanagh Prize in 1987 and went on to bring out a collection with the high-ranking Gallery Press. But he published very little else; the Gallery book was his only collection. He never stopped writing though, despite his worsening illness. In case anyone may be interested, I've put together an appreciation of his work and life on my blog (which includes a selection from an ambitious sequence of short poems he was working on before he died). He is well worth checking out; his work is unique, and brilliantly crafted:
http://www.markgranier.blogspot.com/

I am hopeful that in the near future there may be a book which brings together many of the poems from Anthony's unfinished sequence, along with earler unpublished and magazine/newspaper-published work. Meanwhile, there is his Gallery Press book, 'The Wrong Side of the Alps', a stunning collection: http://www.gallerypress.com/Authors/.../agtwsota.html

[This message has been edited by Mark Granier (edited December 13, 2006).]

[wendy v]

Sorry to hear about your loss, Mark, and the loss, as well,
to poetry.

I've bookmarked your blog, which I enjoyed,
wendy

[Janet Kenny]

Mark,
I've bookmarked your blog too.

Your friend sounds like someone I should have met. I was riding the same wave.

LOWELL TO T.E.HULME*

My mind's not right, but with an ear to the ground
I heard the bass growl of Hiroshima

And a beating-out of images that enlarge the heart.
Nothing is bad in itself except disorder.

"The bass growl" is an actual sound I often said I could hear.

Thank you for letting us know that such a man lived.

Janet

[Mark Granier]

Thanks Wendy and Janet, I appreciate your interest.

Janet, yes, "bass growl" is a great phrase, isn't it? It's taken from Lowell's 'Picture In The Literary Life' (from History). Here's a link to an article with that poem: http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnot...ll/essay1.html

Anthony's sequence often uses phrases from recorded or written conversations, prose and (much more rarely) poems. It's the poetic juxtapositions that give them a different slant and resonance. However, Anthony was also a brilliant phrase-turner in his own right.

[Tim Murphy]

They are arresting, surprising quatrains, Mark. Your reminiscence is very affecting. Thank you for calling this fine poet to our attention.

[Mark Granier]

Thanks for your interest Tim. The quatrains are, as you say, arresting. They work even better in Anthony's book, where 60 of them (comprising the first 3 sections of 'Living In Hiroshima') are published in sequence.