Kelly has published more than fifty books of poetry and prose, including Red Actions: Selected Poems 1960-1993 (1995) and a collection of short fictions, A Transparent Tree (1985). Many were published by the Black Sparrow Press. He also edited the anthology A Controversy of Poets (1965).Kelly was of great help to the Hungryalist group of poets of India during the trial of Malay Roychoudhury,with whom he had correspondence,now archived at Kolkata.
Kelly received the Los Angeles Times First Annual Book Award (1980) for Kill the Messenger Who Brings Bad News and the American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation (1991) for In Time.
Didn’t realize until later that I don’t really like reading poetry like I read novels. I don’t like it because there isn’t really a plot throughout the pages. But the poetry was ethereal and nature related, which I liked.
ვაუ, მეგობარმა პოეტებმა მაჩუქეს და გამაცნეს რობერტ კელი. პირველი შეხვედრისთვის, ასეთი პატარა წიგნით მგონი მეტისმეყი სიმპათია გამიჩნდა. თავიდან ვერ დავუმუღამე, მაგრამ ხმამაღლა ვკითხულობდი და მისწორდებოდა. მერე ერთ ლექსს აურათი გადავუღე და სადაც 2 წუთს გამოვნახავდი, ტელეფონში ვკითხულობდი. ბევრჯერ წავიკითხე ეგ ერთი ლექსი, 15 ჯერ ალბათ და ყოველ წაკითხვაზდ უფრო და უფრო მომწონდა. რობერტ კელი ცოცხალია და იმედია მეც შემხვდება სიზმარში ოდესმე.
I confess that I was a student of Robert Kelly's, so my reading of his work tends to be a mixture of acute appreciation and exasperation. Exasperation because any poet who writes as much as RK does will surely develop habitual gestures. Yet, this collection reminded me once again that there are few if any poets forging ahead as Robert does to attend to the urgency and mystery of spirit and body. His humor, intelligence and searchingness mean that even the weakest poems here have elements that one can profitably return to many times. (And one must always check the author photo at the back of a Kelly book to watch the ongoing evolution of his remarkable eyebrows.)
from "Casida of Milk":
An animal is anything that makes us think
I am an animal that not so long ago was you Curvature of light around a broken vase is whole
The answer was looking for me while I hid in the woods The answer trickled down my back while you mopped my brow
This is an amazing book--one of the best of the best from Robert Kelly's hefty list of titles. Though I'm a huge Kelly fan, apparently I'm two years late in reading this book and am just getting to it now. I have not been able to put it down. He's at the height of his powers here--Kelly at both his most cosmic yet tender self. Robert Kelly has long been one of the best kept secrets in American poetry. This offering shows that a life of devoted practice--of keeping "the work" front and center--is richly rewarded (and rewarding). I cannot recommend this book highly enough.