📚 Jim Harrison’s Plain Song – A Rare First Collection from an American Literary Legend 📚

Description

Plain Song is the debut poetry collection by Jim Harrison, a writer best known for his raw, visceral poetry and fiction deeply rooted in the American landscape. Published when Harrison was in his twenties, Plain Song showcases the early development of his signature themes—nature, mortality, solitude, and the primal instincts of man.

The poems in Plain Song are spare yet evocative, often meditative and melancholic, capturing a sense of longing and connection to the wilderness. Harrison’s work in this collection is influenced by Chinese and Japanese poetry, particularly haiku, which is reflected in its unembellished, direct style and deep appreciation of the natural world.

Though Harrison later became more famous for his fiction (Legends of the Fall, Dalva), Plain Song set the foundation for his lifelong exploration of poetry. The book remains a sought-after title for collectors of modern American poetry and those who admire Harrison’s rugged yet lyrical approach to storytelling.