Moly by Thom Gunn. Faber & Faber 1971. Signed copy.

There is a brittle formal perfection in some of these poems. The title poem, however, is marvelous, taking the drug metaphor that structures the book in a more metaphorical direction. The poems about LSD seem oddly detached. I took a class from Gunn in about 1978 at UC Davis. I've never been particularly excited about his poetry, though I was glad to have studied with him.