Thompson's work was my first brush up against the ghazal form. My first attempts to use it, to fit it to my own hand, were deformed and miserable and are now long gone into a dark landfill of unrecyclable [ugly word] crap. Ten or more years later, after having left the form to its own devices in whatever strange basement corner of the subconscious such things play in while a writer matures a little, I found that, whether I was ready for it or not, the ghazal was what I needed as the form for a sequence of poems which became the core of my first book.
I suggest that if you have any interest in poetry that avoids descent into sentimentalism and dreary, hackish, confessionalism, any interest in a poetry of clean lines, honesty, strong images and skillful technique, you could do worse than to check out Thompson's work.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
powerful, heartfelt and informative - thanks and welcome John!
2 - John MacKenzie
Thanks, Eric.
3 - DrPat
I know exactly what you mean about returning to a poet. I find that same refuge and reconnection in the works of e.e. cummings.
4 - Mike Robertson
I knew John Thompson. He was my teacher and friend at Mount Allison. We went trout fishing together once. He had a canoe and we fished somewhere up in back of Silver Lake. In the late afternoon he suddenly insisted that we paddle to shore and then he ran off through the woods. It was a Saturday and he'd forgotten to buy his grog for the weekend from the Sackville liquor store. Hours later he came back for me and the canoe in the dark. "That was close" he said. Mike Robertson, Fig Tree Pocket, AUSTRALIA
5 - Bruce Chapman
Like Mike Robertson, I was a friend of John Thompson. I find his work compelling - as was he as a person. He wrote a poem for my wife and my wedding which is in Peter Sanger's book. We treasure the original. 30 plus years later we think of him as he was, and read his work. I miss him.
A great poet can crystalize a moment, make you stop and look in infinite detail and wonder, and add to your experience in some fresh unexpected way. John did this.