Friday, May 30, 2008

Jim Harrison is 70!

I look at the calendar and notice that author Jim Harrison is 70 this year! With friends like Yesenin and McGuane, who needs a truncated life? A toast to you! maestro. A real fire breather. Have been reading his Theory And Practice Of Rivers, selected poetry and much of it is great stuff. Tough guy, man-out-in-nature living the zen hearty life. Not "nature writing" per se, that would be simplistic, but he fits into gaggle of wordslingers like Terry Tempest Williams, Gary Snyder, James Dickey, James Wright, Lew Welch, Wendell Berry, Han Shahn, William Stafford and others, celebrants, all, of the drama and poetry implicit in the environment that surrounds us. Spirit Of Place writers.