The Hermit Poet

I’ve been updating my records on LibraryThing.com and have compiled a list of all the first books of poetry in my collection.  Not certain if anyone else is interested, but I have 95 first books of poetry.  You can check out the list here.

One interesting find in the collection was a first edition copy of Frances Itani’s first book of poetry (limited print run of 600) which I picked up at a used bookstore in Glendale for $5 and apparently is now worth $75+.  Itani in recent years has shifted to writing fiction and gained international recognition a few years ago for her novel, Deafening.  The book, No Other Lodgings, features a rather unassuming white cover with a black ink landscape drawing.  On the back cover is a picture of the poet, much younger in 1978.  There are no blurbs or author’s bio, just a note that it had been published Fiddlehead Books and that Itani was grateful for a Canada Council of the Arts grant.  Inside, the poetry is lean, but compelling.  Ink drawings show up occasionally as if to reflect aspects of the narrative — because there is a narrative thread which holds each section together.  The poems revolve around two moments — a past moment concerned with the wartime internment of her grandparents, and a present moment concerned with the revisiting of places and people.