Sad news: Hayden Carruth died on Monday. His work was chosen for the 1990, 1992, 1993, and 1999 volumes of The Best American Poetry, and his poem "Assignment" appeared earlier this year in The Best American Erotic Poems. Hayden's poems, his writings on jazz (which he loved passiopnately), his teaching and editing, and his important anthology, The Voice That Is Great Within Us, made him a vital presence in American poetry. Here is the title poem of the book (published by Copper Canyon Press) that won the 1996 National Book Award.
Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey
Scrambled eggs and whiskey
in the false-dawn light. Chicago,
a sweet town, bleak, God knows,
but sweet. Sometimes. And
weren't we fine tonight?
When Hank set up that limping
treble roll behind me
my horn just growled and I
thought my heart would burst.
And Brad M. pressing with the
soft stick and Joe-Anne
singing low. Here we are now
in the White Tower, leaning
on one another, too tired
to go home. But don't say a word,
don't tell a soul, they wouldn't
understand, they couldn't, never
in a million years, how fine,
how magnificent we were
in that old club tonight.
— Hayden Carruth