“I don’t know why we do it. We must be crazy./Welcome, fellow poet.”—Richard Hugo

Richard Hugo, whom Carolyn Kizer called “one of the most passionate, energetic and honest poets living,” was that rare phenomenon—a distinguished poet who was also an inspiring teacher.

The Triggering Town is Hugo’s classic collection of lectures, essays, and reflections, all “directed toward helping with that silly, absurd, maddening, futile, enormously rewarding activity: writing poems.”

From pieces that include “Writing off the Subject” and “How Poets Make a Living,” anyone, from the beginning poet to the mature writer to the lover of literature, will benefit greatly from Hugo’s playful and profound insights into the mysteries of literary creation.

''Richard Hugo’s free-swinging, go-for-it remarks on poetry and the teaching of poetry are exactly what are needed in classrooms and in the world.'' James Dickey, author of Deliverance

''Richard Hugo taught me that anyone with a desire to write, and an ear for language, and a bit of imagination could become a writer.'' James Welch, author of Fools Crow