I lived from 1923-1982.
I was from the United States, and am in the Americas category.
A man with a love of baseball and no sympathy for doomed fish (according to his brother-in-law, George Schemm), Richard Hugo described himself as a ‘regionalist,’ who discouraged ‘fashionable writing, even when it was well done.’ Friends and contemporaries corroberate: ‘so damn honest it wasn’t even right’ (John Mitchell), ‘he writes about things and about people and about situations that are very common’ (Annick Smith) ‘he would give readings all around the state and people would say, ‘..this is just an ordinary guy.’ (James Welch).
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After returning from service in World War II, Hugo studied creative writing sporadically at the University of Washington, attending classes by the well-known poet Theodore Roethke. In 1951, he began work for Boeing as a technical writer; he would continue there for 13 years, writing poetry at night. During that period, he also co-founded the journal Poetry Northwest , in 1959. His first book of poetry, A Run of Jacks , was published in 1961.
In 1963 Hugo quit his job and moved to Italy, where, soon low on money, he applied to teach creative writing at the University of Montana. In the words of James Welch, he brought the ‘the issues and and technique of poetry.. into the 20th century’ there, ‘a tough kind of poetry..’ that ‘looks at Montana and tells it like it is.’ He would teach at Montana for nearly eighteen years, and describing his new career as ‘the only job I ever took seriously… helping people write jobs.’ In 1971 he was named the director of the Creative Writing Program at the University.
Hugo would publish thirteen books, including a mystery novel and a book of essays. Two of these were nominated for the National Book award; one was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1977, he took on the editorship of the Yale Younger Poet Series. His trophy cabinet included – amongst other items - the Roethke Poetry Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship. ‘I love these prizes’ he said, ‘but they’re not very durable. Tomorrow they all go away.’
Hugo’s work is mostly set in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the towns, landscapes and people of the area. Some commentators have identified a more free and confessional tone to his later work.
Hugo died suddenly in 1982, a victim of leukemia. His grave in Missoula is inscribed with the following line from his poem Glen Uig :
Believe the couple who have finished their picnic
and make wet love in the grass, the wise tiny creatures
cheering them on. Believe in milestones, the day
you left home forever and the cold open way
a world wouldn't let you come in. Believe you
and I are that couple. Believe you and I sing tiny
and wise and could if we had to eat stone and go on.
Quotes
‘Never write a poem about anything that ought to have a poem written about it.’ – Richard Hugo
‘When I stopped drinking ... it was almost like poems had piled up in me, and I just started writing and writing and writing… I mean I was really getting a kick, just discovering ways to move and things to say, which is a lot of the fun of writing, surprising yourself on the page’ –Richard Hugo
My poetry
You might come here Sunday on a whim.
Say your life broke down. The last good kiss
42 lines
Dear Condor: Much thanks for that telephonic support
from North Carolina when I suddenly went ape
40 lines
Now the summer perch flips twice and glides
a lateral fathom at the first cold rain,
16 lines
for Sydney Pettit
The lines are keen against today's bad sky
33 lines
for Hank and Nancy
Seven thousand acres of grass have faded yellow
29 lines
I can't ridge it back again from char.
Not one board left. Only ash a cat explores
28 lines
Hardly a ghost left to talk with. The slavs moved on
or changed their names to something green. Greeks gave up
22 lines
You start it all. You are lovely.
We look on you and we flow.
28 lines
Not my hands but green across you now.
Green tons hold you down, and ten bass curve
68 lines
The dim boy claps because the others clap.
The polite word, handicapped, is muttered in the stands.
29 lines
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