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.

Poetry Month -- The Last Day

Today's poem is pretty apt, I think.

THE LAST POEM IN THE WORLD

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

--Hayden Carruth

I love the confidence, maybe even arrogance of this poem. "Hell yeah, I'm good enough to write the last poem in the world."

Hayden Carruth lives in the next town over from the small town where I grew up. He's one of my mother's favorite poets. I once read a series of letters between him and (I believe) his sister in which he described an enormous mushroom that had begun growing on his kitchen floor. It was one of the best letters I've ever read. He also came up with the excellent title Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey.

So long, National Poetry Month. Let's not make a big thing of it now, okay?