Surprised myself by finishing the Collected Poems of James Merrill before the year's end. Can't say I enjoyed all of its 869 pages, finding quite a few almost entirely baffling, but it was rare to read a poem without at least a few striking phrases to admire and often there was a good deal more than that. As is so often the case on these readings of a Complete or Collected, I generally found myself enjoying the later poems more than the early stuff. Indeed, the last two poems in the collection, both written in the year of JM's death, were probably the two I'd pick out as 'favourites', at least for now.
The slight irritation I suffered in making my way through the whole volume came when I fancied reading a good chunk of someone else at moments and realised this wouldn't be wise. I've been longing to give Thom Gunn's Collected a go, and I'm happy to say I'll be doing just that from tomorrow.
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