Hayden
Carruth was a National Book Award Poetry Finalist in
1974 for From Snow and Rock, From Chaos and again
for Collected Shorter Poems. He went on to receive
the 1996 National Book Award for Poetry for Scrambled
Eggs & Whiskey: Poems 1991-1995.
Photo
Credit: Jerome Ward
In
response to your letter, hundreds of books have influenced
my writing, and I don't mean superficially. Let's say,
however, that the most important literary encounter
for me was with W. B. Yeats when I first read his Collected
Poems in about 1941. The books showed me that it's
possible to be crazy and a poet too. What could be more
encouraging?
Hayden
Carruth
