The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing

A book by Richard Hugo, for poets and for all

photo by Solveig Smørdal Botn on Unsplash

The word “trigger” has taken on something else of late, but for poet and writing instructor, Richard Hugo, the title of his 1979 work (re-printed many times over) refers to his naming—or placing—of where our ideas come from. He revisits the geographical metaphor throughout. (You can determine for yourself if it’s useful to think of one’s own idea-place as a “town.”)

Your triggering subjects are those that ignite your need for words. When you are honest to your feelings, that triggering town chooses you. Your words used your way will generate your meanings. Your obsessions will lead you to your vocabulary. Your way of writing locates, even creates, your inner life. The relation of you to your language gains power. The relation of you to the triggering subject weakens. p.15