Dear Martin
I think it all started with 'That Morning in That Kitchen' in Tears in the Fence. Doubtless there had been others, but this was the one. That I was standing in my kitchen at the time no doubt helped. From there to The Gracing of Days, Denying England and a Hundred of Happiness. And the rest. 'Those books/ on those shelves, did you read them?' I did. And they gave me (give me) joy. That thing you said to Kenneth Koch about his poems making you want to be alive. That's it! When I read your poems I am glad to be alive. If you were Norwegian (or American) you'd be a household name. In my house, from the bookshelves to the kitchen to the garden shed you already are.
Thank you and long may you continue,
Anthony Wilson
WHAT THE POET SAID ABOUT IT for & from Martin Stannard ‘As you know, Ted, I’m very cynical.’ – Father Dougal McGuire, Father Ted Poetry has always been for me a process either of finding out what I think, or asking myself questions about what I think, and often learning more about what I think. I don’t know if that’s the right way to explain it, but it’s possible to be the right person or the wrong person sometimes, discovering that what I thought I thought is not what I thought it was. In some cases, I'm astonished by myself. I didn’t know I was that smart, and I'm still in agreement with what I said back then. I don’t really like stacks of poems that, let’s be honest, have someone’s death to thank for being there. People might think me almost totally deficient when it comes to appreciating other people’s emotions, and caring about how they feel, and all that business. I could be seen as a cold robot with no heart or, as some people might have it, plain stupid. Wh...
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