this list of Jonathan Mayhew is the sort of thing I enjoyed seeing in Paris Review interviews. it lets one see the texture of the sensibility (if that phrase isn't too lame). we all have to select what 'good' writing we will read, plus there's all this 'bad' writing that we read, even for instruction or guilty pleasure. one of the 1st poets that I thought I liked, I was quite resistant to poetry in high school, was Norman effing Mailer. because I 'got' his poems. maybe if O'Hara were available to me then I'd've gone that way but there it is. I've been cogitating my reading base a bit lately, mayhap I'll produce a similar list. the Fu Manchu books of Saxe Rohmer are my not so secret pleasure, just to let you know.

ps. thanks to JM for 'tribute'.