Tuesday, May 12, 2009

News at Eleven: The deer-boy is liberated by acting out

a genetically predetermined disposition. He is aware of it all, haughty but apologetic, mother-pleasing but cognizant that he must eventually buck her wishes as well, flashing his antlers on the air. Transformation continues in the second, title poem, which recalls the herb the pig-men knew would throw off Circe's spell and restore Odysseus's crew to human form. [Thom] Gunn here gives the nod to his new-found psychedelics, but seems also to be honoring any number of transfiguring processes, for "man cannot bear too much reality:"

from Bookslut: Selected Poems by Thom Gunn, edited by August Kleinzahler

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