Doubiago, Sharon

Hard Country

ISBN: 0931122252
Minneapolis, MN: West End Press, 1982. First Edition. Inscribed, signed & dated by Sharon Doubiago to Thomas Rain Crowe. “Sharon was living up in Mendocino during the 1970s, having come from Los Angeles. She was just finding her wings as a poet and would come down to San Francisco on occasion to check out what was going on. And then later she staged “Readings of SF Poets” up in Mendocino–to which we would migrate en masse up Hwy. 1 along the coast for a get-away weekend up in the country near the ocean. I met her in the Trieste Caffe, which was THE bohemian hangout in San Francisco in those days. She gravitated towards Jack Hirschman and was very fond of his work and his vision. I would have to say that I think Jack has to be considered her major influence. He certainly was then–and might still be even to this day. But she was also very interested in women writers. H.D. had a major impact on her and her own brand of feminism. And there were others. While she wasn't directly involved in readings and activist events that were going on in San Francisco during those years, she was an avid student and taking it all in by osmosis, and I can say that her beauty and presence was felt by all whenever she would come to town. She’s stayed true to her vision, which was to become a poet. She just had a major collection of her selected poetry, Naked to the Earth, published in 2017.”--Thomas Rain Crowe, The Thomas Rain Crowe Archive [#1010], pg 34. Sharon Doubiago (b. 1941) is the author of eleven collections of award-winning poetry, including the recent Naked to the Earth. Psyche Drives the Coast won the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. She’s a recipient of three Pushcart Prizes, two Oregon Literary Arts Fellowships, and is a National Book Award nominee. She’s written four book-length poems, South America Mi Hija, The Husband Arcane, The Arcane of O, and The Visit. Her four award-winning memoirs are The Book of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes, El Nino, My Father’s Love, Vols 1 &2. My Beard is memoir in the form of individual stories rather than the on-going narrative of traditional memoir. Offered today is Doubiago’s 1982 collection of poetry, Hard Country. Hard Country is “one great poem, an epic in the proper sense, a personal journey but also the foundation myth of a culture: The seeker is the American earth herself incarnate in the voice of the poet, and the hero is collective–the voices of its living commingling with those of the dead, through “the terror of all history.”” as the back cover of this volume states. With revolutionary, and poetic zeal, Doubiago illustrates a poetic landscape that is as surreal and insightful as it is erudite and masterfully composed. The author has inscribed, signed & dated this item in thin black in at the title page. Her inscription reads: “To Thomas at last (its a hard country, a hard art, hard $!) Love Sharon Dubiago July 9, 1982.” Softcover. First edition though not explicated as such, first printing though similarly not explicated. Book in relatively-fine-to-very-fine condition with moderate wear to fine edges, some creasing to pages and front cover, and some smudging/scratching to front and back covers. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #7181]

Price: $40.00