Hayden Carruth, Poet, Has Died

Hayden Carruth, winner of the 1992 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the 1996 National Book Award for Poetry, has passed away at his home in Munnsville, NY at the age of 87. Regular readers of this blog may remember that back in April, I closed my month of poetry with Carruth's poem "The Last Poem in the World":

Would I write it if I could?
Bet your glitzy ass I would.

Carruth lived in a small, rural town not far from where I grew up in Upstate New York. His look was classic as his poetry -- at once tender, wizened, and sage. He was a favorite of my mother, Kam, who I have to thank for sharing the sad news with me.