In Search of Small Gods

Jim Harrison (1937–2016) was born in Grayling, Michigan, and became one of the most versatile and beloved American writers of his generation, working across poetry, fiction, essay, and screenwriting. His poetry is rooted in landscape — the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Montana, Arizona — and in an earthy, vital engagement with appetite, mortality, and the non-human world. His novella collections, including Legends of the Fall (1979), brought him wide public readership. His poetry collections include Plain Song (1965) and the massive Collected Poems (Copper Canyon, 2017). He received the Spirit of the West Award and the Mark Twain Award. His long poem series Letters to Yesenin (1973) is among his most celebrated achievements.