The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo

When you read non-fiction, I think that sometimes you decide that you like the author and therefore like the book and vica-versa. I liked Richard Hugo. He starts this book out saying that everything he says is wrong. When writing poetry, this is his method, but it may well be wrong for every other writer out there. How can I not respect that?

The idea of triggers is exactly what its name suggests, a thing that might trigger a poem, or the idea for a poem. But that is only one small part of this book. He also talks about sounds of words and how we have an ear for sounds we like and use them over and over. One chapter is on Roethke, who Hugo had as a teacher. I believe his chapter in defense of creative-writing classes is quite famous. And he finishes the book with the story of how one of his poems came to be based on an anecdote told to him at work.

I don't know that this was the greatest how-to write book I have ever read, but as I said, I liked the author and since many of the chapters are lectures he gave, I would have really enjoyed being in his class.