I’m glad you mentioned Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey–it’s long been a favorite of mine as well. I first became acquainted with Carruth reading several of his poems, and a fascinating short essay on the word “anarchy”, in the American Poetry Review. For some reason there was always a $2 copy of Scrambled Eggs on the remainder table of my favorite bookstore. Even if I hadn’t already been familiar with Carruth I would have snapped it up because of the title alone.
I also love The Voice That Is Great Within Us–a book that reveals that Carruth was not only a great poet but simply a great lover of poetry.
Edit:
I got so wrapped up in Carruth that I forgot to mention that this reminded me of a dog of mine who ate a copy of Stalking The Wild Asparagus. A room full of books, and that’s the one he went for. I swear that dog could read.
BTW, dogs eat the things we hold most dear because dogs hold us most dear. The things we hold most dear have more of our scent on them, more of our presence. When we are not around, a dog reaches out for its beloved the only way it knows how, by chewing the living fuck out of anything that smells and tastes like us. It’s a compliment, really.
HC is my favorite poet. There’s a cd of him reading about 20 of his poems that’s worth looking for.
This reminds me of Robert Hass’ poetry. Meditation at Lagunitas, in particular.
Dogs eating paper points to a digestive problem, IBS, anxiety induced chrones, etc.
I suspect you’d like Al Purdy’s work. My favourite (which I’ve almost completely committed to memory is 'In the Early Cretaceous". Just the first stanza:
They came overnight
A hundred million years ago
The first flowers ever
A new thing under the sun
Invented by plants
It must have been around 7 a.m.
When a shrew-like mammal stumbled
Out of its dark burrow
And peered nearsightedly
At the first flower with
An expression close to amazement
And decided it wasn’t dangerous
Clearly your dog is not getting enough homework in his diet.
I looked the poem up, it is wonderful. Thanks!
I forgot to mention that The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie does a pretty good rendition of Purdy’s At the Quinte Hotel. The other voice is Purdy’s.
I actually worked part of this poem into a employment performance evaluation report… Heh.
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