Life & Death

by Robert Creeley

If youth asks the mirror, "Am I the fairest?" then age, in Robert Creeley's skillful, ironic, and tender voice asks, "Do you remember me?" And the poems of Life & Death are the mirror's a collage of recollection and salvage, a gathering-in before winter's night. The first section, "Histoire de Florida," is a partial autobiography at a specific time and place. It captures the poet in an engaged and highly compacted moment that deliberately echoes Wallace Stevens' "The Anecdote of the Jar"--a reverberation from the poet's youth. The second section of "Old Poems, Etc." contains classic reflections--from the doggerel humor of "'Present (present)'" to parody of early Metaphysical models like George Herbert in "Echo's Arrow." The capstone of this section is the sustained "The Dogs of Auckland" which focuses impressions from an extended time spent in that city and becomes a resume of age and its effects, made vividly objective by the contrasting culture of New Zealand. Artists have always proved decisive company for the poet, and the third section contains the texts of three collaborations with painter Francesco Clemente. Creeley's intention, as always, is "to keep writing, as Williams said, for the fun of it. What else?"

Genres: Poetry

87 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P. Capen Professor of Poetry and the Humanities at State University of New York at Buffalo, and lived in Waldoboro, Maine, Buffalo, New York and Providence, Rhode Island, where he taught at Brown University. He was a recipient of the Lannan Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was much beloved as a generous presence in many poets' lives.

Reviews

[Russ]

Bob Creeley was to poetry what Einstein was to physics

[Nazifa Islam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly can't remember the last time I was this bored by a book of poetry. I'll often not love someone's style or feel disconnected from their subject matter, but boredom is very uncommon. There are some lovely lines sprinkled throughout, but this was a very difficult collection to get through.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

some really stunning moments, some of Creeley at his best where he reflects on human connection, what populates a mind, how to view the self as a subject

But also some absolute failures in here, like “Pictures” is one of the worst poems I’ve ever read. A few moments of old guy poet syndrome.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

From "Histoire de Florida"

You thought
you were writing
about
what you felt

You've left it out
Your love
your life
your home

your wife
You've
left her
out

No one is one
No one's alone
No world's that small
No life

You left it out

(16-17)

[Loocuh Frayshure · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are just so few poets that can make my brain sing ike Robert Creeley can.

[Antonio Sacin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than i thought it would be.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another gentle and genteel work of genius who demonstrates he clearly had his powers up to the end.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

PPE 7/23/08

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars