31 Letters and 13 Dreams: Poems

Richard Hugo, whom Carolyn Kizer has called one of the most passionate, energetic, and honest poets living, here offers an extraordinary collection of new poems, each one a letter or a dream. Both letters and dreams are special manifestations of alone-ness; Hugo s special senses of alone-ness, of places, and of other people are the forces behind his distinctively American and increasingly authoritative poetic voice.

Each letter is written from a specific place that Hugo has made his own (a triggering town, as he has called it elsewhere) to a friend, a fellow poet, an old love. We read over the poet s shoulder as the town triggers the imagination, the friendship is re-opened, the poet s selfhood is explored and illuminated. The dreams turn up unexpectedly (as dreams do) among the letters; their haunting images give further depth to the poet s exploration. Are we overhearing them? Who is the you that dreams?