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If You Call This Cry a Song
Poems deal with communication, art, nature, perception, memory, music, rural life, and friendship
107 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
6 people want to read
About the author
Hayden Carruth
111 books47 followersHayden Carruth was an American poet, literary critic, and anthologist known for his distinctive voice, blending formal precision with the rhythms of jazz and the blues. Over a career spanning more than sixty years, he published over thirty books of poetry, as well as essays, literary criticism, and anthologies. His work often explored themes of rural life, hardship, mental illness, and social justice, reflecting both his personal struggles and his political convictions.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Carruth studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago. His early career included serving as editor-in-chief of Poetry and as an advisory editor of The Hudson Review for two decades. He later became poetry editor at Harper’s Magazine and held teaching positions at Johnson State College, the University of Vermont, and Syracuse University, where he influenced a new generation of poets.
Carruth received numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Collected Shorter Poems (1992) and the National Book Award for Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey (1996). His later works, such as Doctor Jazz and Last Poems, further cemented his reputation as a major voice in American poetry. His influential anthology The Voice That Is Great Within Us remains a landmark collection of American verse.
Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Carruth studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later earned an M.A. from the University of Chicago. His early career included serving as editor-in-chief of Poetry and as an advisory editor of The Hudson Review for two decades. He later became poetry editor at Harper’s Magazine and held teaching positions at Johnson State College, the University of Vermont, and Syracuse University, where he influenced a new generation of poets.
Carruth received numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for Collected Shorter Poems (1992) and the National Book Award for Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey (1996). His later works, such as Doctor Jazz and Last Poems, further cemented his reputation as a major voice in American poetry. His influential anthology The Voice That Is Great Within Us remains a landmark collection of American verse.
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January 21, 2008
Hayden Carruth, If You Call This Cry a Song (Countryman Press, 1983)
This collection, written over the course of thirty years, contains material published in magazines and then, for all intents and purposes, forgotten about. Carruth tells us in the introduction that when he stumbled upon it he recognized some old favorites, and thus the birth of this collection.
As seen in The Bird/Poem Book, Carruth is a far better writer than he is a selector of poetry. When he is good, he is very very good, and many of the poems here reflect Carruth doing what he does best. Some of them, on the other hand, are quite simply bombs. Too much politics, not enough poetry, the epidemic that has swept the world since Robert Service and likely before. The best material here is well worth reading, though, and very enjoyable. *** ½
This collection, written over the course of thirty years, contains material published in magazines and then, for all intents and purposes, forgotten about. Carruth tells us in the introduction that when he stumbled upon it he recognized some old favorites, and thus the birth of this collection.
As seen in The Bird/Poem Book, Carruth is a far better writer than he is a selector of poetry. When he is good, he is very very good, and many of the poems here reflect Carruth doing what he does best. Some of them, on the other hand, are quite simply bombs. Too much politics, not enough poetry, the epidemic that has swept the world since Robert Service and likely before. The best material here is well worth reading, though, and very enjoyable. *** ½
Displaying 1 of 1 review