(from Lauren)
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Review of Reckless Lovely in the Los Angeles Review
11 years ago


When I was a neurotic MFA-fiction student at the University of Washington, the poetry faculty included David Wagoner and Heather McHugh. One the students I knew there was Martha Silano.Poet Heather McHugh mines words for contradictions and double meanings, offering the reader an expansive, fresh perspective on themes like love and mortality.
McHugh was recently rewarded a MacArthur fellowship for her efforts. The so-called genius grant comes with a $500,000 honorarium, which, the poet says, she will use to pay more attention to her work.
"I need to get back to my own work," McHugh tells Robert Siegel. "I've been teaching for 33 years, and to learn to teach has been to learn to pay attention to the work of others. And I've been doing that pretty ardently yea these many years, now and again taking a leave of absence."