I have to admit that I had no idea Ezra Pound was born in Idaho, but I don't really pride myself on poet birthplace trivia. If you do, you might want to read this article about the recent renovation of Pound's birthplace and its opening to the general public.
Poet Allen Ginsberg arrived in 1993 when the house was privately owned and finagled an invitation to go inside. Novelist and poet Jim Harrison has visited and helped raise money for the house's preservation. Others making the pilgrimage, said Hunt, include Lawrence Ferlinghetti and W.S. Merwin. Doubtless more came and went anonymously.
Pound only lived in the house for about 18 months while his father ran a government land office. The family moved east to Pennsylvania, and Pound never returned, though he sometimes referred to himself as the "Idaho Kid" and occasionally wrote informal letters punctuated with Wild West lingo.
The house was gifted to The Sun Valley Center for the Arts in 2005 after languishing for several years under ownership of another nonprofit initially called the Ezra Pound Association that couldn't bring in enough money.
The Sun Valley Center simply calls the house The Center, Hailey, and makes little of the Pound connection; the arts organization's main building is in nearby Ketchum
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