"To the Bobbydazzlers" by John Forbes [Introduced by Thomas Moody]

Tough day to be thinking about poetry, let alone Australian poetry.

Luckily, John Forbes has a poem for just about every occasion. 

 

 

To the Bobbydazzlers

American poets!
you have saved
America from
its reputation
if not its fate
& you saved me
too, in 1970
when I first
breathed freely
in Ted Berrigan’s
Sonnets, escaping
the talented earache of Modern
Poetry.
                       Sitting
on the beach I
look towards you
but the curve
of the Pacific
gets in the way
& I see stars
instead knocked
out by your poems
American poets,
the Great Dead
are smiling
in your faces.
I salute their
luminous hum!

Comments

[Terence Winch]

Nice! Thanks, Thomas.

[ALAN WEARNE]

A new edition of the Collected Forbes has recently been issued: https://www.brandl.com.au/books/collected-poems/
As well the biography of John by Aidan Coleman will be published sometime in 2025. Both are very worthy investments to delight and instruct.