Distinctly Montana Magazine

84 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 4 not just passing through. One of his poems is called "Driving Montana"—and he did that. Now sitting in that 1970 UM seminar room he tells us that a few certain places have an intensity of power, being and force that make that defined place far different from the most of the world's physical and spiritual geography. Good and bad are only swirls within that force. The force is not necessarily from humanity's footsteps on that earth. What is and what hap- pened, what might be or might never be there creates a force beyond itself. "Let's go around the table," says Hugo. "Tell me where you're from." One by one, his students obey his your-turn-now nods. Names of towns in Montana. A couple out-of-staters. A big city walker. Hugo is bulldog alert but saying nothing, revealing nothing. Comes my turn and I say my hometown's one word: "Shelby." Pause. Hugo's force leans on me from the end of the table. And he says: "Yeah, you know what I'm talking about." I did, I do, yet it took me 50 years to let all that rise in my writing. Hugo moves on to the next student, the next named place. Says nothing about any of the other students' answers. He never wrote directly naming Shelby. Fort Benton, yes, a place whose power his poem proves. And perhaps his most famous poem is "Degrees of Gray In Phillipsburg," a wow whose phrase "the last good kiss" gave a winning title to his UM colleague James Crumley's 1978 crime novel, a genre also then mined by UM professor, legend and Hugo colleague James Lee Burke. Hugo himself in 1981 would publish a mystery novel Death And The Good Life, the only nov- el in his oeuvre of poetry, criticism and autobiographical books that helped him forge a kinship with UM author/teacher/leg- end William Kittredge. I don't know if Hugo knew or found friendship with his era's Montana literary stars Dorothy Johnson and A.B. Guthrie. But I hope so. Hugo was a mentor and friend to James Welch, a died-too- soon Montana author of such books as The Indian Lawyer. Browning-born Welch was a poet, too, yet as Hugo predicted, he found his real home in fields of fiction. The fields of Hugo's life opened up with more joy after that 1970 seminar class. He became visiting poet at the University of Iowa. Held the Roethke Chair at the University of Washington. Visiting pro- fessor at the University of Colorado. Visiting distinguished Professor at University of Arkansas. Editor of the Yale Younger Poets series. Return appointments at UM. He won a Guggen- heim Memorial Fellowship, the Roethke Poetry Award and was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. But perhaps his greatest joy came from marrying Ripley in 1974, finding heartfuls of love and creating with her a family with (406) 315-1931 THANK YOU! FOR VOTING US BEST PLUMBING COMPANY! 2022-24 of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F Y E A R S WO N F I N A L I S T ! CowboyTroy's.com (406) 642-3380 Open Tuesday - Saturday 11am Live Music Every Friday 2359 US Highway 93 North Victor, MT 59875 Where Strangers Become Friends, and Friends Become Family. 2022-24 of B E S T M O N TA N A A S V O T E D B Y R E A D E R S O F Y E A R S WO N W I N N E R ! Best Country Western Bar Best Cowboy Bar

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