Henry Hughes
Henry Hughes is the author of four collections of poetry, including Men Holding Eggs, which received the Oregon Book Award. His newest collection, Bunch of Animals, is forthcoming from Cloudbank Books. He teaches at Western Oregon University.
On your nightstand:
John Casey’s Spartina, which I’m thirsting to read; a continually rewarding collection of Alice Munro stories; and a stack of field guides, mostly birds and fish, some standard and some quirky, such as Probably More Than You Want to Know About Fishes of the Pacific Coast by Milton Love. When I’m very tired, I poke inside the field guides. That’s how I got the ideas for the poems “Sarcastic Fringehead,” and “Eccentric Sand Dollar.” Even the names of marine animals fascinate me.
If you could spend a whole day with an author, who would it be?
I’d love to spend hours and days with many authors. The magic of this question is in answering with a dead and mysterious master, so I must say Herman Melville. Moby-Dick and stories like “Benito Cereno” just blow me away. And that enduring creative life of Melville–turning to poetry after the commercial and critical failures of Moby-Dick and the later novels– intrigues me, gives hope to my own journey. Herman and I would have a couple whiskeys. The conversation could be about anything. I’d just want to feel the play of his mind and look into his dark eyes– “let me look into a human eye; it is better than to gaze into sea or sky; better than to gaze upon God.”
What’s your writing routine? Are you an early bird or a night owl?
I need to write in the morning when my brain feels rested and sharp, when there are very few external distractions, when the world seems fresh and hopeful. Writing and fishing begin early.