San Francisco, Days 4-6; Thom Gunn Archives

One of the things that I was most excited about coming to San Fran was the chance to get up to Berkley and get inside the archives of my hero Thom Gunn, who I am moving on to research in October. The archives are huge and extensive and three days certainly isn't enough time to get done everything I wanted to do but I feel like I made a good start and certainly found enough cool stuff to be going on with.

There are some incredible things there, annotated poems which Thom would read from which give unique insights into the meanings behind some poems. Diaries which Gunn kept meticulously everyday from the 1960's and even one harrowing one from his childhood. There are lots of files of correspondence, from friends and colleagues and there are little bits of paper, scraps and scribbles hidden everywhere which proved to be a real treasure trove of information. I know more about the man that I ever did and I feel like, for the first time, that my book on him could be something truly interesting- presuming nobody beats me to it!

The best thing I took away from Gunn was his love- for all his friends, for his long time companion, for his family. The intimacy of an entire city and an entire community, encapsulated in one man, is on show and it's breathtaking. Some of the most moving moments came when looking through Fan-Mail to Gunn, much of which he managed to reply to. On the back of one letter, received towards the very end of his life, Gunn has scribbled a reply which it is unsure whether he ever sent. It is truly beautiful and shows Gunn's compassion to be immeasurable.

3 Days was not enough time but I was grateful for anytime spent with such wonderful articles and documents. Hopefully, as my project progresses, I will be able to go back again.