Poetry. Jim Harrison's gorgeous, desperate, and harrowing "correspondence" with Sergei Yesenin--a Russian poet who hanged himself after writing his final poem in his own blood--is considered an American masterwork. In the early 1970's, Harrison was living in poverty on a hardscrabble farm, suffering from depression and suicidal tendencies. In response he began to write daily prose-poem letters to Yesenin. Through this one-sided correspondence, Harrison unloads to this unlikely hero, ranting and raving about politics, drinking porblems, family concerns, farm life, and a full range of daily occurrences. The rope remains ever present. In the end, Harrison listened to his own poems: "My year-old daughter's red robe hangs from the doorknob shouting Stop".

Author City: LIVINGSTON, MT USA

Jim Harrison is the author of thirty books, including Legends of the Fall, Dalva, and Shape of the Journey. His work has been translated into two dozen languages and produced as four feature-length films. In 2007, Mr. Harrison was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He divides his time between Montana and southern Arizona.