Hayden Carruth, From Snow and Rock, from Chaos (New Directions, 1973)

Hayden Carruth has long been one of the finest poets America has to offer, and this slim volume offers a good number of reasons why. The fifty-eight pages of this collection (which can still be found for its extremely low cover price at Amazon thirty years later!) are far less intimidating to the Carruth novice than the eight hundred plus of Collected Shorter Poems 1946-1991, and while the book doesn't include anything of the magnitude of "Ray" or The Bloomingdale Papers, there is more than enough brilliance here to whet the reader's appetite for more of Carruth's soft, often witty poetry. Moving between structure and free verse with a sure hand in both, there is something in this collection for just about everyone. If you haven't yet discovered Carruth, this is an excellent starting point. **** ½

Many of these poems deal with the poet's perspectives of rural Vermont. Carruth's intensity clashes with a realistic American rural life, creating a very evocative contrast. "The Cows At Night" takes the reader from a lonely country road at night to a search for an understanding of the relationship between beauty, innocence, and sadness. This is an excellent selection from one of our finer poets.

I first read Budbill's book on the recommendation of one of my favorite authors. He said that it was a book that grew on you the more time you spent with it. I agree. Budbill mixes humor and tragedy in vignettes of those who live with him and around him in impoverished rural Vermont. Anyone who has a sensitive heart and an appreciation for quiet humor will thoroughly enjoy this collection of poems

Especially poignant is Carruth's poem "Marvin McCabe," the story of a man who loses his power of speech in a drunk-driving accident..

I am no reviewer but thank you for asking. My name is Herb Slojewski. I've known Mr. Laughlin's work all my life. This is one of his finest books. Mr. L. was an admirer and supporter of Denise Levertov, who died just a short while ago. Don't miss this one, please. Thanks, Mr. Laughlin! Thank you very much. Herb. Thursday night. Eagle Rock, California 9.9.99--9:09 PM

I am the author of this collection of poems. On January 3, 2001, Garrison Keillor read "The Sailor" from ONLY WHAT'S IMAGINED on his daily National Public Radio program, "The Writer's Almanac." Now I sit back and watch the book's sales-ranking spurt in the direction of #1!

Do yourself a favor and pick up SCRAMBLED EGGS & WHISKEY -- and follow Hayden Carruth on a journey that masterfully and humbly moves from the most troubling, trying scenes from life to the most redeeming to the everyday and a whole, whole lot in between. Rhythmic, with obvious jazz sensibilities -- and with so much truth -- these poems get to the heart of the matter in ways that make you nod in agreement, laugh out loud or pause in grieving silence or certain solidarity. I am glad this is the book that introduced me to the huge body of Mr. Carruth's work.

Yes, the title speaks for itself. Collected here are good poems. Good, bland, middle-of-the-road conservative poems for people who like their poetry straighforward and unchallenging. I ordered this collection with great anticipation. I was sorely disappointed. Maybe it was the monotone droning of Keillor's readings (I bought the audio CD) punctuated by one female author's breathy renditions. Maybe it was all the God-themed poems included for good measure. If I'd done my homework on Keillor's radio show I might have known better. I want poetry to rock me and give me goosebumps, especially when it's spoken word. I never thought Bukowski, Moore, Bishop, Thomas, and their like would have their unique voices so efficiently muted. I gave this work three stars because, after all, it is full of good poems. If "good" is good enough for you, enjoy.

These kinds of major-press anthologies (especially when put together by a celebrity) tend to be worthless: either heartwarming sop (i.e. "Poems that have Inspired Me") or the same English-class warhorses trotted out again. So I thumbed through "Good Poems" and was surprised to find...good poems; a mix of the standards (Frost, Dickinson, Shakespeare), modern academics (Oliver, Simic), and poets who seldom appear in these kinds of anthologies (Carver, Ferlinghetti, Bukowski.) Well-selected, thoughtfully placed, and (thank God) fun to read, this collection is a real jewel; a perfect gift for someone who thinks they could never like poetry.

Even if the poetry was less than stellar, this book would be worth buying just for Keillor's introduction. Instead of gushing empty platitudes, he takes a hard look at what makes a poem good (as opposed to just technically proficient.) Anyone interested in writing poetry should do themselves a favor and read it (Personally, I'm thrilled that someone else thinks Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, and Allen Ginsberg are overrated, though I have to admit T.S. Eliot is growing on me...)

this is a wonderful read of well-organized poetic gems. there's a poem to suit your every thought or mood, and it makes a great introduction to those poets with whom you may not be familiar. a great value, edited by one of the greatest storytellers of our time.

We venture to say that Hayden Carruth's anthology is necessary for understanding the trends, the vicissitudes, the heights and the depths of American poetry from the First World War to the time of the moonwalk (Neil Armstrong's moonwalk, not Michael Jackson's). A necessary book is not necessarily a perfect book, but there is something here for everyone.

We detect a slight preference for the "new" -- and often the radical -- in prosody and in politics. If we are looking for W H Auden in this book, we will not find him because he seems in the anthologist's opinion to have remained "essentially British." Auden disdained slang and anarchic versification, but I don't think that constitutes sufficient reason for declaring him un-American.

The oldest poet in this book is Robert Frost, born in 1874 (not 75, as the book claims); the youngest poet is Joel Sloman, born in 1943. The titanic modernists of the early part of the century are well-represented: Pound, Eliot, Stevens, Williams, Moore. And Carruth is unfailingly generous to the lesser figures: Aiken, Van Doren, Yvor Winters, MacLeish, Louise Bogan.

This anthology excels in presenting poets born between 1899 (Allen Tate, Hart Crane) and 1929 (Adrienne Rich). We could list the figures, familiar and not-so-familiar: Lowell, Berryman, Roethke, Duncan, Elizabeth Bishop, Charles Olson, Countee Cullen, Robert Hayden, Thomas Merton, Richard Wilbur, Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Denise Levertov, Robert Bly.

Donald Hall is not included, perhaps because he had not yet written his very best work; Richard Howard is not included, presumably because he wasn't a beatnik. James Merrill and John Ashbery are here, as is Hayden Carruth in an admirably modest selection prefaced by an endearingly humble biographical note.

When it comes to poets born after 1930, the anthology is at its least satisfying. There are Sylvia Plath and Wendell Berry, Gary Synder and Gregory Corso, but few others that seem to justify Carruth's endorsement. Robert Pinsky, Robert Hass, Louise Gluck, Charles Simic and Mark Strand are conspicuous by their absence; and of course, Seamus Heaney is Irish, and -- as we are often reminded in the preface -- this is an American anthology.

All in all, a capacious, generous, inclusive selection, sometimes culpably inclusive; one that should be read in conjunction with other anthologies, ones which contain the indisputably durable examples of the noble and demanding art of poetry.

I had a professor who used this book as a text. I was amazed at the depth and variety of poems and poets. I have used this book as a teacher also; it has many of those "everybody should read this" poems, as well as many other less known but wonderful titles. This is not a good book if you want commentary; it has poems and very short biographies only.

I recently purchased my second one of these, because I wore out the first one.

Even if you are untrained in poetry, as I am, (even if you are an engineer, as I am), you will find poems in here that will move you, thrill you, and make you sigh.

See how much language can transcend words. It opened my eyes.

This collection contains several of Carruth's longer poems, including "The Sleeping Beauty." I picked up this collection to read this poem in my studies and I was impressed. Carruth's poetry is interesting and sparks the imagination with his subtle and genuine style. Although I read this book a few years ago, seeing it listed here has inspired me to go read it again.

this book is one worth skimming, and i skimmed most of it, actually read about 1/10th, and felt i'd gotten the essence of the book.

set in 1971. all about this "perfect" family in rural maine (seemed far from perfect to me) and some visitors they had for a weekend, one of whom was a chilean refugee woman (luisa) who'd gotten out of the country only weeks after the coup in which her family (husband and chidlren) were massacred before her eyes. the real essence of the book is how she interacts with this "ideal" and "happy" family, and the interest is in the juxtaposition of their comfort and happiness and her trauma and misery. it's like completely different worlds colliding, and where it gets good is how one man from the maine world, actually a visitor from new york, is able to enter the world of the chilean woman through his emotional piano playing. this part is fascinating...but remember, the fascinating part is just 1/10th of the book - and the rest is long descriptions about dull happy family routines and dogs and cider-pressing and pinecones.

i think this book could (should?) be condensed into a good 30 page short story.