LITTLE JOHNNY'S CONFESSION

by Brian Patten ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1968

In spite of the imprimatur represented by a paean from Allen Ginsberg, (""real magnanimity worded by an Atomic Adam""), this collection of brief poems by a young Liverpudlian who has been around in various continental literary and journalistic eyries--Spain, Paris, Dublin--is a surprisingly naive but lyrical oddity. Christopher Robin's damp farewell to Pooh Bear must have left its mark, since Mr. Patten (most of these poems were composed at eighteen or nineteen) expends most of his considerable energy in lamenting the loss of stuffed-animal innocence. Alas, ""Johnny will you still be sane when Winnie the Pooh/ Grows into some gigantic bear/ and comes to maul you?/When Archie attacks Mehitabel/ when Mr. Toad finally crashes. . . ."" But young Mr. P. is hardly maudlin--merely adolescing in a schoolroom of impotent adults, drowning pals and hostilities. Withal the bomb-bash and toddling trips, these poems are pertinent, occasionally mature, indeed ""magnanimous,"" always musical. Sing ho for Liverpool.

Pub Date: April 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION