Echo

I’ll be leaving all the west we found.
The disparate parts that could not wish
will be as useless as underwear then,

and the pitch that felt up to me when I heard
the selfsoft love of the trueloved

will cast in its secondary range for something bitter:
a second choice to be far from home, among them.

I’ll leave believing we keep all we lose and love.
The disparagements that came and went
Will be as useful as underwear then,

And the pity that felt me up when I saw
The self-harshness of the unloved

Will cash in its secondary rage for something better:
A second chance to be at home, between them.

American Treasure, Volume 1

A Hugo Nickel

Not my hands but green across you now.

I'm in a town
where children get hurt early.

I'll leave believing we keep all we lose and love.

I want home full of grim permission.

And may you never be dispossessed, forced to wander
a world the color of salt with no young music in it.

____________________________________
"The Lady in Kickng Horse Reservoir"
"Letter to Leveretov from Butte"
"Last Day There"
"The Only Bar in Dixon"
"Place and Ways to Live"

Best Gong of 2009

31 Letters and 13 Dreams

This is the Hugo collection that has really moved me. The letters hold up better than the dreams. I sense a writing assignment, personal or shared, coming on.

After Reading

Richard Hugo again this morning,
and liking it a great deal,

I wonder if I've turned some kind of corner and am
now heading back home.

The Information

Send me your flight information, etc., via email.
A brief questionnaire will follow.

I Just

wrote my first short story.

Always wondered what that felt like.