Five Poets of the Pacific Northwest: Poems by Hanson, Hugo, Kizer, Stafford and Wagoner

by Robin Skelton, Carl Morris (Illustrator)

Pacific Northwest poets

Genres: Poetry

115 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1966

About the author

Robin Skelton was a writer and poet. He also wrote as Georges Zuk.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

The city where I live has a very active "little free library" scene, and I found this title at one of the libraries near my house. Of the five poets included in this volume, I was previously familiar with Richard Hugo and Carolyn Kizer, both of whom were students of Theodore Roethke. All of the other writers included here (Kenneth O. Hanson, Willam Stafford, and David Wagoner) were new to me.

Unfortunately, most of the verse in these pages is pretty forgettable, with the exception of the following:

Kenneth O. Hanson's "Making the Scene"
Richard Hugo's "Neighbor"
Carolyn Kizer's "Pro Femina"

As with all if his work, Hugo's voice in "Neighbor" is egalitarian and humane, as the first verse demonstrates:

The drunk who lives across the street from us
fell in our garden, on the beet patch
yesterday. So polite. Pardon me,
he said. He had to be helped up and held,
steered home and put to bed, declaring
we got to have another drink and smile.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another poetry anthology that I checked out from the library, read through with amazement, marked far too many poems for me to copy into my notebook and ended up buying for myself (used on Amazon for the bargain price of $1.35 plus $3.99 for shipping). I'm officially falling in love with William Stafford. It's true.