Robert Creeley...American Poet

I rented a studio space from Bob and Pen Creeley for a number of years.  During that time, we spent many hours talking about art, collaborative work, some of my favorite writers and the neighborhood.  We never talked about poetry but it was then that I began to read his work.  "I Know a Man" (quoted below) soon became a favorite--so direct in cadence, so American in its pursuit of forward motion...and so universal in its concluding cautionary note.

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 goddamn big car,

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

--Robert Creeley