Local poet Bob Hudson leans forward, adjusts his reading glasses and plunges me into another universe. His wiry voice guides me through his strange world of words and ideas, illuminating the path through "Enemy Country," a poem in his "Into The Cold Wind" collection.
Born and raised in south Jackson by a Southern Baptist preacher, Hudson, 47, recalls an idyllic childhood filled with love and security. He spent a year at Mississippi College but quickly decided college wasn't right for him at that time. He dropped out, picked up a job parking cars and started reading books--lots of books. Hudson jokes that Lemuria Bookstore could have paid its power bill with the purchases he made there every month.
Hudson's love of bicycling took him to New York City in 1985, where he spent a couple years as a messenger. The pull of the South proved too strong, however, and Hudson returned to Mississippi in 1987. He returned to school, receiving an English degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1991, and drove commercial trucks for nine years. Hudson then bought a house in Fondren and found a job at Pearl River Glass Studio on Millsaps Avenue as an installation specialist.
"After being on the road, you know, all over the country all the time, this is just like heaven," Hudson says.
Jackson holds a variety of attractions for the book-loving, bicycling poet. Hudson appreciates the artistic output of the city, saying that though larger art communities can be found in other cities, they often come at the price of higher crime, population density and higher cost of living. Here in Jackson, Hudson has found that there is space to move and stretch.
You may have seen Hudson bicycling down the streets of Jackson or reading his poetry on Sunday nights at Cultural Expressions.
If you wander around Fondren during Fondren After 5, you might find him handing out copies of his self-published poetry collections.
His collections are produced through a top-secret home-publishing process, Hudson says. He has a few copies for sale at Sneaky Beans on State Street, but he says that most of his success comes in face-to-face interactions.
When asked about the financial impact of his writing, Hudson smiles. "Demand is not overwhelming me at this point in time," he says. He then leans back, takes a swig of a Miller High Life and adds: "I can't understand that at all. This was my get rich scheme. It's going to work. I know."
But all joking aside, his rationale for writing is quite simple: Crafting a successful poem is fun.
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