Signed by Dana Gioia

The collecting of signed poetry books never actually stopped but it hasn't continued at any sort of pace because I've got all the affordable poets I could want and Larkin, Eliot and Auden no longer come at sensible prices, notwithstanding having to re-mortgage the house to get Sylvia or Dylan Thomas whose legends make such things far beyond outlandish. I might have another look at Rosemary Tonks, though, because it is only money.

However, Dana Gioia was an absolute bargain at a price one might easily pay for an unsigned book. 

I'm half convinced that graphology is not cod science by the correlation between formal, common sense poets having nice, clean, legible handwriting and the 'freer', less disciplined poets being less legible. Such a thesis demands deeper analysis and there will be outliers like 'exceptions that prove the point' even if they would really undermine it.

Dana Gioia is so very neat and tidy, considerate and caring and finishes with just a bit of a flourish. There would appear to be a bit of a story and background to this dedication which makes it all the better. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.