Carl Sandburg

Not so much a biography as a warm tribute to my favorite poet, Carl Sandburg, by one of his closest friends, Harry Golden, another writer, publisher and essayist who is a kindred spirit to Sandburg and I respect deeply. There were some surprises here. For example, in 1940 the Republican party

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expressed considerable interest in convincing Sandburg, a consummate humanitarian and union activist, to run for the presidency against FDR. He declined. There is little organization to the book, it being more or less a stream-of-consciousness collection of anecdotes as they popped into Golden's head, which no doubt suited writer and subject equally. I hadn't known that Sandburg and Robert Frost (another favorite poet) were close friends and mutual admirers, although I would have probably preferred the company of the generously congenial Sandburg to the frequently flinty Frost. Sandburg was the first private citizen to address both houses of Congress. He was at times a hobo, a poet, a historian, a musician and preserver of America's songs, a social activist, and a man who felt there was good in all men. At the moment, having just finished this homage of a biography, none come to mind whom I hold in higher esteem than both subject and writer here.

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