He's Looking At You, Kid
My poem published in London Grip New Poetry
I am grateful to London Grip for publishing my poem in the Spring 2025 issue.
The editors observe that many poems in this issue are ‘in conversation’ with other works of art, film and literature. Mine is a response to Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice (1912) and the 1971 film of the same title directed by Luchino Visconti. It draws on Laura Mulvey’s seminal essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975) and was also inspired by the documentary on the life of Björn Andrésen, “the most beautiful boy in the world”, who played the part of Tadzio in Visconti’s film.
In their notes, the London Grip editors comment that they have deliberately ordered the poems in the issue so that “each poem is related to its neighbours by theme or narrative thread or at least some keyword.” I love the connections that emerge — the poem before mine is “Thomas Mann” by Norton Hodges and the one after links thematically. You can find the full issue here.
Thanks for reading! If you have a comment, I’d love to hear what you think.
It's not been long since I finished reading Death in Venice by Thomas Mann. I read the Clayton Coelb translation. I loved how Mann handled such a sensitive issue under the veneer of such beautiful language. I still haven't watched the Visconti film adaptation. But I checked out your poem. It's beautifully rendered, I must say.
"...The last gasp of innocence
Dead in the air." It's gonna stay stay with me. It's gonna stay because of the hint at the influence on both the character and the child actor that played it. And you put it into your work just perfectly. Good job! (From a fellow rookie poet.)
Lovey poem, Ruth