Robert Creeley RIP

[Nate Dorward]

One of the real greats in American poetry. I'm glad to have met him a few times in Buffalo & in Toronto, & heard him read (& talk--he was a famously loquacious introducer-&-explainer of his poetry at readings).

[jazzy mary]

Any details, Nate?

[Tom Storer]

A damn shame. I have his "Life and Death" on my bedside table and dip into it frequently.

I was turned on to Creeley when I got Steve Swallow's "Home" 25 years ago (ECM, 1979 or 80), which was Creeley's verses put to music by Swallow and sung by Sheila Jordan. A fantastic album also featuring Steve Kuhn, Lyle Mays, Dave Liebman and Bob Moses.

Quoting from memory, probably getting it wrong, no idea of the typography:

She was young
She was old
She was small

She was tall
With extraordinary grace
Her face was all distance

Her eyes the depth
Of all one had thought of
Again and again and again

[MRS]

terrible news

[Al in NYC]

Something of a mentor of mine during my poetry years. I've long since slipped out of that world, but his is a real loss. A great artist and a good, entertaining, and, yes, occasionally difficult, man who gave of his time, knowledge, and advice to others. He loved nothing better than to sit down and talk about his work and about poetry and writing in general.

[jazzy mary]

What school was that, Al?

[grove47]

What terrible news. I love Creeley's work and enjoy the jazz settings by Swallow and Lacy among others.

[bluenoter]

Robert Creeley by Gerard Malanga

R.I.P.

[Nate Dorward]

I don't have a lot of details right now--he was in Texas at the time. I believe pneumonia was the cause of death.

Tom--except for the stanza & line breaks you have that exactly right. It's an extract from "The Finger" in Pieces, which is actually the only Creeley book I have signed. Creeley was delighted when I showed him my mint copy of it (which I'd found neglected in a Toronto bookshop, pretty cheap)--it's one of the most visually intense covers in the history of poetry publishing! (A richly saturated orange.)

[crawjo]

Sad to hear this. I met Mr. Creeley a couple of times at poetry readings back in my pseudo-poet days during college. To be honest, I never really could get into his work the way other people have, but there is no denying his genius or his stature as one of the great American poets of the twentieth century. RIP.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by jazzy mary

What school was that, Al?

Creeley was at SUNY Buffalo for years (I believe 1 semester per year). Was that where Al knew him?

[Al in NYC]

Actually, in my case it was at Harvard, where he came as a guest instructor one semester. But one of my best friends studied under him at SUNY Buffalo.

[Surfer]

I Know A Man


As I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking,--John, I

sd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, what

can we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a godd@mn big car,

drive, he sd, for
christ's sake, look
out where yr going.


- Robert Creeley, 1926-2005

[frankiepop]

ice cream, sure herbert, take a bite ....

[Surfer]

I looked high and low for both volumes of Futurities, and I must say, when I found them and heard them for the first time, I was rather disappointed in the settings. Irene Aebi (sic) is not the person I would have chosen to sing the verses. However, after the theme/poem, the group work and solos are excellent.

That being said, she does do a pretty good job on "The Eye".

[Paul B]

I used to be really into Creeley, but at this point I no longer consider him a major poet. Leaving aside the nastiness of his personality (once again on display at a recent Steve Lacy memorial in New York, and well documented in print), he is at best a strong second tier writer. In the pantheon of great American poets, he stands nowhere near (in random order) Hecht, Merwin, Stevens, Koch, Jarrell, O'Hara, Lowell, Rich, Moore, Coolidge, and a host of others. When compared to someone of Hecht's sublime skill, Creeley is basically a joke. As a musician I know said recently, Creeley (and many of his ilk, including most of the beats) got away with murder.

On the other hand, Creeley's simplistic verse lent itself well to musical settings, and Steve Lacy was able to take advantage of that. In Lacy's settings, Creeley's poems, however banal on the page, come alive.

So yes, RIP Robert Creeley. That sly wink seen in so many photos is, I suspect, directed at those who bought into his game. Hecht, were he alive, would be chuckling at it all.

[bostontricky]

Nice. That "sly wink" was due to Creeley's losing an eye as a child.

Maybe Creeley was the EAI of American poetry. Instead of choking on vocabulary, he laid the skeleton out there for all of us to behold.

[Jesse]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Paul B

he is at best a strong second tier writer.
Creeley is basically a joke. As a musician I know said recently, Creeley
got away with murder.

So yes, RIP Robert Creeley. That sly wink seen in so many photos is, I suspect, directed at those who bought into his game.

Class act, Paul.
Lurk until you spot a eulogy, then drop in to set the record straight (preferably just hours after rigor sets in!).

Have you visited the Cochrane thread yet?

I nearly want to apologize to Mr. Gitin for you.

[bluenoter]

Paul also dropped by the Race and Jazzcorner thread to toss a couple of grenades.

Paul, the little tagline beneath your name says that you're "Gone."

Bye-ya.

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Surfer

I Know A Man


As I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking,--John, I

sd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, what

can we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a godd@mn big car,

drive, he sd, for
christ's sake, look
out where yr going.


- Robert Creeley, 1926-2005

That's the one. Oh, yes.

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by Paul B

I used to be really into Creeley, but at this point I no longer consider him a major poet. Leaving aside the nastiness of his personality (once again on display at a recent Steve Lacy memorial in New York, and well documented in print), he is at best a strong second tier writer. In the pantheon of great American poets, he stands nowhere near (in random order) Hecht, Merwin, Stevens, Koch, Jarrell, O'Hara, Lowell, Rich, Moore, Coolidge, and a host of others. When compared to someone of Hecht's sublime skill, Creeley is basically a joke. As a musician I know said recently, Creeley (and many of his ilk, including most of the beats) got away with murder.

On the other hand, Creeley's simplistic verse lent itself well to musical settings, and Steve Lacy was able to take advantage of that. In Lacy's settings, Creeley's poems, however banal on the page, come alive.

So yes, RIP Robert Creeley. That sly wink seen in so many photos is, I suspect, directed at those who bought into his game. Hecht, were he alive, would be chuckling at it all.

Anthony Hecht, yes. There was a Poet. Got to know him a little bit at the University of Rochester back in the '70s. He was good buddies with Elizabeth Bishop, and I got to meet her through him, and thus to talk with her about my main man, Robert Lowell.

How's that for some serious fuckin' name-dropping?

[frankenmeister7]

Originally Posted by bluenoter

Paul also dropped by the Race and Jazzcorner thread to toss a couple of grenades.

Paul, the little tagline beneath your name says that you're "Gone."

Bye-ya.

bluenoter you are getting as bad as some of the men on this board. why don't you take the evening off.

bye ya

[Nate Dorward]

Paul: fine, don't like the man's work or the man. (Creeley wasn't a nice man: like, big news--it's pretty obvious from the work.) But I don't understand why you think this is a suitable occasion or thread to dump on either of them.

[frankiepop]

well i for one found creeley to be one of the more interesting poets that i've read, and i loved 'futurities' which is about my favorite Lacy recording. aebi is spectacular.

i also like the album steve swallow 'home' where shiela jordan sang creely poems. swallow is a helluva composer.

[Jesse]

Beside Her To Lie

He'd like the edge
of her warmth here
"beside her to lie"

in trusting comfort
no longer contests
he loves and wants her


(My favorite Creeley on Lacy's Futurities):


Sad Advice

If it isn't fun, don't do it.
You'll have to do enough that isn't.

Such is life, like they say
no one gets away without paying

and since you don't get to keep it
anyhow, who needs it.


Robert Creeley
1926-2005



gate
gate
paragate
parasamgate
bodhi swaha!