#ThomGunn
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emmaharding.bsky.social
Poetry Please is back! Danez Smith joins Roger McGough with their selection of listeners’ choices incl #ThomGunn #CarolAnnDuffy & #KendrickLamar 4pm Tues 19 Nov @BBCRadio4 @BBCSounds www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Radio 4 - Poetry Please, Danez Smith
American poet and performer Danez Smith makes a selection from your poetry requests.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2024 at 9:11 AM
rickehling.bsky.social
Happy Birthday. Happy #smallpoemsunday
one by #ThomGunn, “Flying Above #California”
November 24, 2024 at 4:04 PM
lauraphillips.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... Poetry Please bbcpoetryplease is back! #DanezSmith joins #RogerMcgough with their selection of listeners’ choices incl #ThomGunn #CarolAnnDuffy & #KendrickLamar 4pm Tues 19 Nov #BBCRadio4 #BBCSounds
BBC Radio 4 - Poetry Please, Danez Smith
American poet and performer Danez Smith makes a selection from your poetry requests.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2024 at 11:41 AM
nathanfrancis79.bsky.social
"As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery."

Poems: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-g...

✒️ Remembering #ThomGunn, English poet, who was #BOTD 29 August 1929. #Poetry #Literature
August 29, 2025 at 2:08 AM
rickehling.bsky.social
#NationalPoetryMonth #6 #ThomGunn
Give me time to figure what post goes where, how, and in what format. For this month of #poetry I’m highlighting a few favorites over on #Post
#TheDiscoveryofthePacific
post.news/@/ehlingmd/2...
National Poetry Month #6, Thom Gunn
©️ 📸 Rick Ehling #FortFunston #coastalfog #SanFrancisco #DalyCity #California #thePacific #westcoast #leftcoast #bestcoast #beach #coastal #GGNRC #photography The Discovery of the Pacific by Thom Gunn...
post.news
April 20, 2024 at 12:10 PM
catsbearsandme.bsky.social
#Poetry
#BlueskyPoetry
#Caturday
#ThomGunn

Apartment Cats by Thom Gunn
The Girls wake, stretch, and pad up to the door. They rub my leg and purr; One sniffs around my shoe, Rich with an outside smell, The other rolls back on the floor – White bib exposed, and stomach of soft fur. Now, more awake, they re-enact Ben Hur Along the corridor, Wheel, gallop; as they do, Their noses twitching still, Their eyes get wild, their bodies tense, Their usual prudence seemingly withdraws. And then they wrestle; parry, lock of paws, Blind hug of close defense, Tail-thump, and smothered mew. If either, though, feels claws, She abruptly rises, knowing well How to stalk off in wise indifference.
September 12, 2026 at 2:29 PM
rickehling.bsky.social
#alphabetchallenge #weekWforWater 🌊
© 📷 Rick Ehling 04/2024 #fortfunston #SanFrancisco #thePacific #lookingsouthwest #FirmWest
#thediscoveryofthepacific #ThomGunn #poetry
The Pacific from a trail in the sandy cliffs at Fort Funston, San Francisco, California The Discovery of the Pacific They lean against the cooling car, backs pressed Upon the dusts of a brown continent, And watch the sun, now Westward of their West, Fall to the ocean. Where it led they went. Kansas to California. Day by day They travelled emptier of the things they knew. They improvised new habits on the way, But lost the occasions, and then lost them too. One night, no one and nowhere, she had woken To resin-smell and to the firs' slight sound, And through their sleeping-bag had felt the broken Tight-knotted surfaces of the naked ground. Only his lean quiet body cupping hers Kept her from it, the extreme chill. By degrees She fell asleep. Around them in the firs The wind probed, tiding through forked estuaries. And now their skin is caked with road, the grime Merely reflecting sunlight as it fails. They leave their clothes among the rocks they climb, Blunt leaves of iceplant nuzzle at their soles. Now they stand chin-deep in the sway of ocean, Firm West, two stringy bodies face to face, And come, together, in the water's motion, The full caught pause of their embrace. Thom Gunn
June 9, 2026 at 1:25 PM
nathanfrancis79.bsky.social
"As humans we look at things and think about what we've looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery."

Poems: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-g...

✒️ Remembering #ThomGunn, English poet, who was #BOTD 29 August 1929. #Poetry #Literature
August 29, 2026 at 12:05 AM
rickehling.bsky.social
Today’s poem for #NationalPoetryMonth
#LavenderAllOverAgain by #WSDiPiero
(A funeral poem with awe for his friend and colleague #ThomGunn)
#NaPoMo #poetry 🕯️ “Ardent life burned your heart and hands. You kept dancing until you could barely stand.”
"Lavender All Over Again" Newspaper caption I see you in your backyard's lavender, post-lunch doze, dreaming someone you brought home last week who blurs to hummingbirds that fan your ears. Lavender buds pilled your sweatshirt in the restaurant garden you preferred, where we ate, gossiped, laughed, and downed a sizable carafe. You ate experience whole, sweetest when you lost control. I see you springing from your gluey sleep while foggy shade rolls toward your seat. You liked to party hard, still in your prime way past your prime, Give me wine wine wine all the time time time, stomped in punk dives' purple light, sweating, fists pumped high... Ardent life burned your heart and hands. You kept dancing until you could barely stand. In memory of Thom Gunn
April 9, 2026 at 3:08 PM
dalerapley.bsky.social
Enjoying this rainy November afternoon read by Michael Nott #acoolqueerlife #thomgunn #biography
November 19, 2024 at 5:43 PM
rickehling.bsky.social
Today’s poem for #NationalPoetryMonth
#FlyingAboveCalifornia by #ThomGunn
(a love song to CA, as almost a break in bed) #NaPoMo #poetry

“on fogless days by the Pacific,
there is a cold hard light without break
that reveals merely what is - no more
and no less. That limiting candour,”
Spread beneath me it lies—lean upland sinewed and tawny in the sun, and valley cool with mustard, or sweet with loquat. I repeat under my breath names of places I have not been to: Crescent City, San Bernardino —Mediterranean and Northern names. Such richness can make you drunk. Sometimes on fogless days by the Pacific, there is a cold hard light without break that reveals merely what is—no more and no less. That limiting candour, that accuracy of the beaches, is part of the ultimate richness.
April 10, 2026 at 5:40 PM
rahlooho.bsky.social
Considering the Snail by Thom Gunn | Poems Rethabile Likes po-re-li.blogspot.com/2026/05/cons...

#ThomGunn #ConsideringTheSnail #PoetryCommunity #PoemOfTheDay #PoemsRethabileLikes #Poems #NaturePoetry
Considering the Snail by Thom Gunn | Poems Rethabile Likes
Thom Gunn's 'Considering the Snail' observes a snail's slow, purposeful movement through wet grass, meditating on desire, fury, and deliberate passion
po-re-li.blogspot.com
June 14, 2026 at 9:08 AM
catsbearsandme.bsky.social
#Poetry
#BlueskyPoetry
#ThomGunn
#Caturday

Apartment Cats by Thom Gunn
The Girls wake, stretch, and pad up to the door. They rub my leg and purr; One sniffs around my shoe, Rich with an outside smell, The other rolls back on the floor – White bib exposed, and stomach of soft fur. Now, more awake, they re-enact Ben Hur Along the corridor, Wheel, gallop; as they do, Their noses twitching still, Their eyes get wild, their bodies tense, Their usual prudence seemingly withdraws. And then they wrestle; parry, lock of paws, Blind hug of close defense, Tail-thump, and smothered mew. If either, though, feels claws, She abruptly rises, knowing well How to stalk off in wise indifference.
April 11, 2026 at 2:46 PM
rickehling.bsky.social
…and some of us did. #SanFrancisco #GoWest #petshopboys #thepacific
Pairs particularly well w/ #ThomGunn reading #TheDiscoveryofthePacific

poetryarchive.org/poem/the-dis...
June 2, 2024 at 3:13 PM
nathanfrancis79.bsky.social
"At worst, one is in motion; and at best,
Reaching no absolute, in which to rest,
One is always nearer by not keeping still."

✒️ #ThomGunn, English poet, #DOTD 25 April 2004.

Poems: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-g...
April 25, 2026 at 2:12 AM
greatscottict.bsky.social
Thom Gunn: a poet of dynamic energy, blending tradition with modernity. 🌊 His verse explores identity, physicality, and transformation, capturing the pulse of human experience with vivid precision. Celebrate his enduring impact on contemporary poetry. #ThomGunn #Poetry
Thom Gunn (1929–2004) The Hug It was your birthday, we had drunk and dined Half of the night with our old friend Who'd showed us in the end To a bed I reached in one drunk stride. Already I lay snug, And drowsy with the wine dozed on one side. I dozed, I slept. My sleep broke on a hug, Suddenly, from behind, In which the full lengths of our bodies pressed: Your instep to my heel, My shoulder-blades against your chest. It was not sex, but I could feel The whole strength of your body set, Or braced, to mine, And locking me to you As if we were still twenty-two When our grand passion had not yet Become familial. My quick sleep had deleted all Of intervening time and place. I only knew The stay of your secure firm dry embrace. - Thom Gunn
April 21, 2025 at 12:57 PM
capebretongent.bsky.social
*Dr. Oliver Sacks (of Awakenings fame) wrote a memoir called Letters in which he referenced over 200 books, poems and articles that helped shape his life. I am reviewing all of them, in order. Feel free to come along for the ride. Enjoy. tommacinneswriter.com/2025/09/23/f... #ThomGunn #OliverSacks
From the Library of Dr. Oliver Sacks: Book Review #5: The Sense of Movement by Thom Gunn
NOTE: Today’s book review was inspired by another book entitled Letters. That book was a memoir of scientist and storyteller Dr. Oliver Sacks, told through a lifetime of his personal correspondence…
tommacinneswriter.com
September 23, 2025 at 7:58 PM
nathanfrancis79.bsky.social
"At worst, one is in motion; and at best,
Reaching no absolute, in which to rest,
One is always nearer by not keeping still."

✒️ #ThomGunn, English poet, #DOTD 25 April 2004.

Poems: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thom-g...
April 25, 2025 at 5:04 AM
alinaetc.bsky.social
Cambridge, Berkeley, and memories of Thom Gunn in 1965. https://exhibitions.lib.umd.edu/thomgunn/photographs
Photographs of Thom Gunn | Thom Gunn
exhibitions.lib.umd.edu
December 1, 2024 at 8:06 AM