Great Regulars: "It was the poem I had been trying

to write for 20 years," [Richard] Hugo said. He wrote it in four hours, after a single visit to a Montana mining town, and nailed every line, from the first ("You might come here Sunday on a whim.") to the last (". . . the girl who serves your food/is slender and her red hair lights the wall.") The second line contains what might be the saddest words in modern poetry ("Say your life broke down.") and a phrase James Crumley borrowed for the title of his best novel ("The last good kiss").

from Jeff Baker: The Oregonian: To understand the poetry of Richard Hugo, begin with the place

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