"Véhicule Press began in 1973 on the premises of Véhicule Art Inc., one
of Canada's first artist-run galleries. The large space occupied by both
the gallery and the press at 61 Ste-Catherine St. West was once the
Café Montmarte--the renowned jazz club of the 1930s." Forty years later, it has developed into one of the essential "small" presses of Canada - dynamically publishing local, provincial and national history, memoirs, guides, novels, short stories, essays, and, perhaps most impressively, poetry. Anyone wanting to review a few new VP poetry books drop me a line. As a small press publisher, I can only marvel at the stamina, dedication, and dash of madness that has kept this firm going through all the downturns of our times. Congratulations are in order. If you want to know what Montreal, and Quebec culture is like, here's a mainstay, a key stop on your reading tour.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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