The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing by Richard Hugo Read Free Book Online Page A

noun that is yours, even if it has only local use. “Salal” is the name of a bush that grows wild in the Pacific Northwest. It is often not found in dictionaries, but I’ve known that word long as I can remember. I had to check with the University of Washington Botany Department on the spelling when I first used it in a poem. It is a word, and it is my word. That’s arrogant, isn’t it? But necessary. Don’t be afraid to take emotional possession of words. If you don’t love a few words enough to own them, you will have to be very clever to write a good poem.
    Beware certain words that seem necessitated by grammar to make things clear but dilute the drama of the statement. These are words of temporality, causality, and opposition, and often indicate a momentary lack of faith in the imagination.
    Temporality: meanwhile, while, as (at the same time as), during, and (implying “and at the same time”)
    But no one comes
and the girl disappears behind folding doors
while the bus grinds and lurches away.
No one comes.
The girl disappears behind folding doors.
The bus grinds and lurches away.
     
    Here, the words “and” and “while” point up a relation that can be provided by the mind. “While” simply means that two things happen at the same time. Without “while” they happen at the same time. What was funny about “Meanwhile, back at the ranch” was the superimposition of the words on the screen over a shot of the ranch. We are told what was being demonstrated. It would be boring if not maddening to live in a world where all things were labeled. Where “house” would be stamped on a house.
    In my skull
death echoes the song of the wind as it
hands up each winter defeat.
     
    In my skull
death echoes the song of the wind. The wind
hands up each winter defeat.
     
    I’m not saying eliminate these words from your vocabulary. I’m saying don’t use them out of grammarphobia to make connections clear. Note in the above example the relative values of the two statements were eliminated by removing the “as.” With the “as” the temporal relation of the two statements was stated, and the mind gave or wanted to give more value to one than the other. Now they are equal. Style and substance may represent a class system. The imagination is a democracy.
    Causality: so (as a result), because, thus, causing
    So I wait here, high outside the city, while in
your reality dreams come only at will.
     
    I wait here, high outside the city.
In your reality, dreams come only at will.
     
    Don’t put signposts to relationships.
    Opposition: yet, but
    My hard bed waits for me
yet that room is cold now.
     
    My hard bed waits for me.
That room is cold.
     
    We knew that prairie would stay empty
but horses filled the dawn.
     
    We knew that prairie would stay empty.
Horses filled the dawn.
     
    Often the opposition is far more dramatic if you don’t call attention to it. Sometimes, the opposition isn’t opposition.
    The sun rises slowly like an old man,
Fish rise in shadows
but elude me like virtues.
     
    The sun rises slowly like an old man.
Fish rise in shadows.
They elude me like virtues.
     
    All these trails we can follow,
the tails of comets that disappear at sunrise
but stay on the dark tablet of the eyes for months.
     
    All these trails we can follow,
the tails of comets that disappear at sunrise
stay on the dark tablet of the eyes for months.
     
    The poem need not end on a dramatic note, but often the dramatic can be at the end with good effect.
    All these trails we can follow,
the tails of comets that disappear at sunrise
stay for months on the dark tablet of the eyes.
     
    Beware using “so” and “such” for emphasis. They’re often phony words, uttered. “He is so handsome.” “That was such a good dinner.” If “so” is used, it is better to have a consequence.
    Our cows have eaten grass turned brown so long and wind just barely lifts and stirs the leaves.
     
    Our cows have eaten grass turned