Great Regulars: Poetry: Updike was a fine poet.

But his early work could be viewed as lacking in seriousness, and thus my choice for his apex is Americana, the 2001 volume that would be the last verse collection to appear under his name (during his lifetime, anyway; I suspect we may see a posthumous collection). Some of the works here are formal, while others are free verse, but no matter the approach, the author was absolutely sure of himself and what he wanted to do. The language is beautiful without being gaudy; the poems brook no nonsense.

from John Mark Eberhart: The Kansas City Star: John Updike appreciation: His best and his not-quite-best

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Star last spoke with Updike in October. He made no mention of illness. Knopf recently had published Updike's 23rd novel, The Widows of Eastwick. Updike also was the author of 15 short-story collections, nine volumes of essays and criticism, seven verse collections, five books for children, a volume of memoirs, and a play, "Buchanan Dying."

He was most famous for his Rabbit books: Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; and Rabbit at Rest.

from John Mark Eberhart: The Kansas City Star: John Updike, a humble man of letters, dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

Haiku
by Jim Fox

from John Mark Eberhart: Parachute: A very wintry . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~