In memory of RC

[blp]

Robert Creeley died.
Let's show the geezer nuff respect

He was a right poetry rotter and
People who understood these things

didn't understand

to his psychotic strategies
Let's make a ritual

He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can

****
version 2:

Robert Creeley died.
Let's kiss his corpse goodbye

He was a right poetry spoiler and
People who understood these things

didn't understand

to his psychotic strategies
Let's make a ritual

He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can

*****

version 3:

Robert Creeley died.
Let's make him with our eyes

He's gone back into shadows and
People who understood these things

didn't understand

to his psychotic strategies
Let's make a ritual

He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can

[white camellia]

b, I like it. ;-)

Robert Creeley, a poor true artist, seems to me. I don't know who he is, so my impression of him depends on your ten lines.

The way you describe the artist is so in tune with his situations. By this I mean, there is conflict and contrast, either in realities, or in your descriptions. You give the poem a look of truth with a simple drawing (like the "Traditional Line Drawing"). Beneath the calm narration, I feel something in-depth, raw and biting.

the geezer nuff...respect

psychotic strategies...a ritual

right...poetry rotter

I like these lines best:
He was a right poetry rotter and
Poeple who understood these things
didn't understand

But I need to think over the last three lines. :idea:

[blp]

Thanks. It's always interesting when someone changes the spacing between the lines. Now I wonder if I prefer it your way.

Something in-depth, raw and biting beneath a simple line drawing is roughly how I feel about Creeley, at his best.

[white camellia]

b, Can you paste one of his works here? Your favorite, if any... ;-P

[blp]

If You, by Robert Creeley:

If you were going to get a pet
What kind of animal would you get?

A soft-bodied dog, a hen
Feathers and fur to begin it again

when the sun goes down and it gets dark
I saw an animal in a park

Bring it home to give it to you
I have seen animals break in two

You were looking for something soft
And loyal and clean and wondrously careful

a form of otherwise vicious habit
could have long ears and be called a rabbit

Dead died will die want
Morning midnight I asked you

If you were going to get a pet
What kind of animal would you get?

[white camellia]

Bring it home to give it to you
I have seen animals break in two
--Sounds like heart break in two...

You were looking for something soft
And loyal and clean and wondrously careful
--A man can be.

If you were going to get a mate
What kind of man/woman would you get?

[Riesa]

Robert Creeley died.
Let's show the geezer nuff respect

He was a right poetry rotter and
People who understood these things

didn't understand

to his psychotic strategies
Let's make a ritual

He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can


blp,

I get the sense that RC is a poor man's poet? I gather that from the voice:
'geezer, nuff, right poetry rotter'. makes me think of village locals in a pub?

what's interesting is the change after that to a level above limericks, and the ironical awareness that these 'pubcrawlers' have of his writing when:

'People who understand these things

didn't understand'

to me the three final lines convey a sense of what RC's writing might be all about. unexpected twists and the neccessity of thinking around instead of through, maybe?

'He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

so no one can'

quite chilling to me.

fill us in will ya? :D

[Petrarch's Love]

For those who are curious about Creeley: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/creeley/life.htm
also from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Creeley

Lovely homage BLP, these lines in particular:


He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can

[blp]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

I'm not sure why I adopted the cockney tone at the start, but this came very quickly and I just plonked it down. The demotic's misleading and I might reconsider - especially since Creeley's American and those lines are decidedly estuary English. Creeley's an avante gardist. He gets lumped in with the Beats at times, but he's odder, more theoretical and has less of the appearance of the common man about him. At the same time, he has a certain rawness, which I suppose is what I was awkwardly lunging at.


to me the three final lines convey a sense of what RC's writing might be all about. unexpected twists and the neccessity of thinking around instead of through, maybe?
This sounds pretty right to me, especially the unexpected twists.

[Riesa]

ah. after reading Petrarch's helpful links, the name Robert Creeley is starting to ring a bell. thanks, blp. off I go to read some more of his poetry. that's something ain't it?? :D

[Virgil]

Thanks blp and Petrarch for those links. I had heard of Robert Creeley's name and perhaps he is included in some of the anthologies I own, but I had never read anything by him, at least that I remember. From both links, this seems to be the most distinct thought on poetry that is associated with Creeley:


Form," Olson quoted Robert Creeley in a statement that was to become an essential credo, "is never more than an extension of content. . . .

[white camellia]

It only feels to me that the latest version goes smoother, but less in its humour. I prefer this one:

Robert Creeley died.
Let's make him with our eyes

He was a right poetry rotter and
People who understood these things

didn't understand

to his psychotic strategies
Let's make a ritual

He'll never see our toasts
Let's make them through a thin black veil

So no one can

[blp]

You're right! It needs the rotter thing and 'gone back into shadows' is smooth in a totally bad way - like background music, muzak - as well as being a cliché.