“ সবেধন পুত্র মোর, আমার চেয়েও বেশি ঈশ্বরের তুই থেকে যা এখানে এই নাশপাতি গাছের বাগানে। সুপ্রচুর ফলভারে এইখানে গাছেরা আনত তৃপ্ত আর পরিমিত রঙের বাহারে উদ্ভাসিত; বার্ধক্যপীড়িত হয়ে তারা যেই কাঁদে, নোনাজল নয় কোনো, সুমধুর অলস সিরাপে অশ্রু ঝরে। “আমার নিজের আমি আর আমি থাকি না নিজের” তাকে দেখে মনে হতো বেগানা নাগর, চুপচাপ সেবিদেশি,পদ্মডাঁটা হাতে নিয়ে এসেছিল আমার দুয়ারে; ঈশ্বরের জোড়াচক্ষু, ইউসুফেরও চোখের অধিক গনগনে তার চোখে চোখ রেখে কী হলো আমার আমি কী করে বোঝাই? ছিলাম নিজের আমি আর আমি থাকিনি নিজের। আর এই জনাবারো শ্রমশীল লোক, এরা কারা? তোর কথা মাথামুণ্ডু কিছুই বুঝি না: শিখিয়েছি আমি তোকে বুলি; রেখেছি পাখির নামগুলি যে কোনো শিশুর মতো তুই দেখাতি ওদের যারা দীর্ঘ পরিযায়ী। ভিড় থেকে দূরে গিয়ে তুই ফের হয়ে যারে চুপ “আমার নিজের আমি আর আমি থাকি না নিজের” আমি যেই কথা বলি মুখভার কেন তোর বাপ? এই তোর মালামাল, চাকু ও করাত আর এই হাতুড়িটা বেঞ্চির ওপর। দিনে দিনে হয় মাপা এইখানে তোর এজীবন, মাপজোক নিয়ে তুই আসবাব বানাস যেমন; আর আমি পত্নী হেন তোকে দেবো পাঠ; আমার নিজের হবো আর হবো কেবলই আমার ইচ্ছেমতো যথাতথা বয়ে চলে বেয়াড়া বাতাস দিলখোশ না হলে কি কেউ চলে তার অনুরূপ? আজও মনে পড়ে, তুই গিয়েছিলি আলাপ জমাতে পশমের আলখাল্লাধারী যতো পণ্ডিতের সাথে। কানে এলো শহরের তীব্র হট্টগোল; এঅশুভ যন্ত্রখানি কে বয়ে বেড়ায়? “সে তার নিজের আর নয় সে নিজের” মাড়িয়ে সবুজ আর দ্রুততৃণ গালিচা মাড়িয়ে দেখি এক আজগুবি ছায়া এসে পড়ে ও মানিক, এই পেটে তোকে আমি ধরেছি রে একা! ছিলো না নিকটে কোনো কবিরাজ নাড়ি কাটবার; ডাকবো না তোকে আমি প্রভু বলে ওরে সবেধন পুত্র মোর, দে আমায় সাড়া! “আমার নিজের আমি আর আমি নই তো নিজের। ”
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“ While I don't satisfy my curiosity about the way I work, I'm terribly curious about the way other poets work. But I would think that's true about many of us. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I don't know how to sit outside myself and test against a hypothetical self who stayed home. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ There have been two popular subjects for poetry in the last few decades: the Vietnam War and AIDS, about both of which almost all of us have felt deeply. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I work best in rhyme and meter. I was most confident of myself in that way. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ Donald Davie was someone whom I got to know shortly before his death. He was consistently supportive, very kind to me, but he was very against queers. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ Donald Davie was someone whom I got to know shortly before his death. He was consistently supportive, very kind to me, but he was very against queers. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ While I don't satisfy my curiosity about the way I work, I'm terribly curious about the way other poets work. But I would think that's true about many of us. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud of having a gay poet of a certain minor fame. It was a very satisfactory change! ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ When I was an undergraduate I had very badly annotated editions of Shakespeare's sonnets, all of which left out the important fact that will has a sexual sense in Shakespeare's sonnets. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I was at a benefit for some imprisoned students in the '60s at San Francisco State, and there were lots of poets reading for the benefit: one was Elizabeth Bishop. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ I work best in rhyme and meter. I was most confident of myself in that way. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ Donald Davie was someone whom I got to know shortly before his death. He was consistently supportive, very kind to me, but he was very against queers. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ My thoughts are crowded with death and it draws so oddly on the sexual that I am confused to be attracted by, in effect, my own annihilation. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ When I first started to write, I was aware of being queer, but I didn't write about it. Queer poems would probably not have been accepted by the editors I sent them to. ”
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“ I notice that students, particularly for gay students, it's too easy to write about my last trick or something. It's not very interesting to the reader. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ We learned in the university to consider Wordsworth and Keats as Romantics. They were only a generation apart, but Wordsworth didn't even read Keats's book when he gave him a copy. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ My thoughts are crowded with death and it draws so oddly on the sexual that I am confused to be attracted by, in effect, my own annihilation. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ Being in the closet, I saw being homosexual as a deliberate choice. It's got nothing to do with choice or the will, but I was being defiant about it. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ My thoughts are crowded with death and it draws so oddly on the sexual that I am confused to be attracted by, in effect, my own annihilation. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ When I first started teaching at Berkeley in 1958, I could not announce that I was gay to anybody, though probably quite a few of my fellow teachers knew. ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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“ It was difficult being a teacher and out of the closet in the '50s. By the time I retired, the English department was proud of having a gay poet of a certain minor fame. It was a very satisfactory change! ”
- Thom Gunn- Copy
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