Pluto by Glyn Maxwell. Picador Poetry, 64 pp., £9.99
Maxwell is a dedicated formalist like Polley, and shares his strong sense of time’s attrition.
One poem on this theme struck me as pretty well perfect, so graceful in expression, so complex and delicate in feeling that I’m afraid to bruise it by analysis:
NO SPECIAL DAY
It has asked to be treated like all the other days.
Not to be beamed at in assembly,
winked at, singled out for praise,
parted for or crowded round, not to be
starred or handed a badge or in obvious ways
made something of. In no uncertain terms
did it say no gifts, no cake, no … Continue Reading