I came rather late to appreciate Jim Harrison’s writing. But I was a fan from the first time I read his poetry. Accessible, often humorous, always profound. Harrison was also a prolific novelist, as well as a food columnist. One of the most entertaining food books I’ve ever read is A Really Big Lunch, a collection of his essays on food.
https://www.npr.org/2017/03/29/520994685/celebrating-a-glorious-life-of-excess-in-a-really-big-lunch
I’ve also read three or four of his novellas, as well as three collections of his poetry. I highly recommend that you check him out.
Harrison was born in the upper peninsula of Michigan and retained a residence there for his entire life.
He also spent time in Montana and Arizona. He died in 2016.
Here’s one of my favorites. I’ve never been good at landings either.
Man Dog Jim Harrison
I envied the dog lying in the yard
so I did it. But there was a pebble
under my flank so I got up and looked
for the pebble, brushed it away
and lay back down. My dog thus far
overlooked the pebble. I guess it's her thick
Lab fur. With my head downhill the blood gorged
me with ideas. Not good. Got up. Turned around. Now I
see hundreds of infinitesimal ants. I'm on an
ant home. I get up and move five feet.
The dog hasn't moved from her serene place.
Now I'm rather too near a thicket where
I saw a big black snake last week that might decide
to join me. I moved near the actual dog this time
but she got up and went under the porch. She doesn't like
it when I'm acting weird. I'm failing as a dog
when my own kind rejects me, but doing better
than when I envied birds, the creature the least
like us, therefore utterly enviable. To be sure
I cheeped a lot but didn't try to fly.
We humans can take off but are no good at landing.
(from Dead Man’s Float (Copper Canyon Press, 2016)