[Jayne Osborn]

I've sent an email to Lucy at The Spectator and to Tessa at The Oldie, to let them know the sad news.

Those two UK magazines, that some of us submit competition entries to, via "Deep Drills" on the Drills & Amusements board, published countless winning poems of John's over the course of many, many years; they too will miss him, like all of us.

Jayne

[David Anthony]

Does anyone know when and where John ‘s funeral will be?

[Charlotte Innes]

It’s very moving to read all these fine posts about John. Thank you, Ann, for starting the thread. I actually just saw the news on Facebook, where a number of people are posting John’s poems. (Thank you to Sam Gwynn for that idea.) I encourage everyone else to do the same. More people need to know his work. John was really something special as a poet—and in person too. I first met him in England at a gathering of Sphere poets in an Oxford pub (thanks Jayne!) and as a result have a signed copy of Girlie Gangs, which I treasure. I was also delighted to find that he was one of the sweetest, kindest people you could ever hope to meet. I always loved his Sphere posts, which were sometimes quite acerbic, or should I say passionate? He cared. A lot. I saw him again at West Chester (year of Sam, 2016, 2017?) where he did seem a bit rundown, but I had no idea he was seriously ill. At any rate, I am glad to have met him. He was a great poet with a great soul. RIP John.

[Damian Balassone]

Very saddened to hear of John’s passing. Condolences to his wife and two daughters. I discovered John’s poetry in a newsagent here in Melbourne, Australia about ten years ago. Disillusioned, I was flicking through all the lit mags, struggling to find something that resonated. I then came across a poem about the cricketer Victor Trumper. I loved it and was delighted that something like that could be found in a literary magazine. Turns out the legendary poet Les Murray was a big fan of John’s and had published hundreds of his poems in Quadrant. Thanks to google I discovered many more works by John and then had the good fortune to contact the man himself and establish a wonderful correspondence where cricket and poetry were discussed in earnest. I loved his poetry. I loved the (mostly) iambic clarity of his lines. Sublime. I ordered many of his works directly from John himself and to avoid being screwed by the banks sent the Oz dollars directly in the post (aside from the time he asked me to order a Gilbert and Sullivan CD for him via Amazon UK). I think he was at the height of his powers with the collections ‘Girlie Gangs’ and ‘Being the Bad Guy’, although an earlier book ‘Landscape with Small Humans’ also struck a chord with me, particularly the poems towards the end of the book which deal with the death of John’s mother (when I think he was only twelve years old). He also wrote a hilarious book of poems for children ‘The Complete Poetical Works of Phoebe Flood’ which he signed for my eldest daughter. The book was a huge hit in our house and years later I was delighted to walk past my youngest daughter’s bedroom to find her big sister reading some of the verses to her. Cackles of laughter. His ‘how-to-do’ book Writing Poetry was also a godsend for me. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it contained that invaluable piece of advice stating that poetry is more about words, than ideas. I don’t think he was saying that he was adverse to ideas, but more so that you have to get the words right first. Off the top of my head, my favourite poems of John were ‘The Examiners’, ‘Life at Eighty’, ‘Aaargh’, ‘Palinode’, ‘Little’, ‘Children of the Garden and the Wood’, ‘The Book of the Law’ and ‘Walking the Dogs’. He was a marvel. RIP John.

[Julie Steiner]

Ah, yes, "The Examiners." Read beautifully by Tom O'Bedlam, here. The recipe is equal parts delicious silliness and dark, disturbing, incantatory magic. A very potent cocktail.

Ave atque vale, Ioannes Regni Cantuariorum.
Hail and farewell, John of the Kingdom of Kent.

My condolences to his wife and daughters. And my gratitude to his friends for letting us know.

[derek fenton]

It is thanks to John's book, 'Writing Poetry' that I was finally able to improve enough to have some poems published. When I wrote to thank him personally, he kindly sent me a copy of a journal of formal verse and some sound advice. A man generous in every way! He will live on in his wonderful poetry.

[Mary McLean]

I'm very sad to hear this. I enjoyed meeting John at Oxbridge pubs, and he was one of the key people responsible for drawing me into this community. I'll always remember his wit and warmth and his Robbie Burns.

[E. Shaun Russell]

I was traveling most of yesterday so didn't catch this sad news until late...but my sincere condolences to those who knew and loved John.

[Jerome Betts]

It was sad to see this news today, although I was aware his health was failing. On the only occasion I met him it wasn’t really possible to talk, but I had a couple of entertaining letters from him about his childhood reading, a signed copy of Girlie Gangs and some pleasant exchanges here. Failing a Selected or Collected I shall be looking for some of his earlier books. Orwn’s interview was very informative- thanks for that.

[Gregory Dowling]

Very sad at this news. I have all John's books and had been a fan long before I joined the Sphere. I was co-responsible for (I think) the first translation into Italian of a selection of his poems in an anthology back in 1996, so I was very excited when he joined the Sphere and we were able to meet virtually. And then I was able to meet him in person at West Chester and in London (thanks to the organising hand of Jayne). It was a great pleasure; as everyone has said, however much one might have differed on political matters, he was a delight to meet, and always extremely kind and gracious. We will miss him greatly.

If anyone is interested I wrote a long-ish piece on his poetry for THE CHIMAERA, which can be found here, and a more recent review of GIRLIE GANGS.