One Book Montana and National Poetry Month, A Perfect Harmony

Humanities Montana and the Montana Center for the Book announce that Richard Hugo's Selected Poems has been chosen as the 2010 One Book Montana. This is the program that asks all Montanans to read and discuss a single important book together. As chance would have it, this is also National Poetry Month, and Nancy Pearl, recommending appropriate reading to mark this occasion, focuses on our very own Richard Hugo:

Making Certain It Goes On: The Collected Poems of Richard Hugo is filled with memorable lines and poems that I read and reread, and each time find something new to appreciate. Like Stafford's poetry, Hugo's is conversational and totally approachable. He writes about what it's like to live in this world, one filled with friendship, love and loss, and especially the places he has lived and loved. My favorite poem of Hugo's is "Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg," which begins: "You might come here Sunday on a whim./Say your life broke down. The last good kiss/you had was years ago."

(Incidentally, novelist James Crumley used a quote from these lines to title his absolutely-not-to-be-missed thriller, The Last Good Kiss.)

Great minds think alike! Humanities Montana will soon post many resources for studying Hugo's poetry on this social network. We also provide loan copies of Selected Poems for discussion by groups around the state of Montana. For more information, call Kim Anderson at 243-6022.