Day Book of a Virtual Poet [Paperback]

Robert Creeley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1999

Nonfiction. Poetics. "DAY BOOK OF A VIRTUAL POET provides a unique entrance into the ideas and practices--into the life, finally--of one of our great writers"--Burt Kimmelman. This unique book is a record of e-mail letters from Robert Creeley to high school students participating in an online honors poetry course. It explores the educational possibilities of a medium that has become second nature to people across the generations. Creeley: "All the tendentious proposals as to `why write,' in Pound's useful phrase, finally fade to the one point W.C. Williams made by saying, `Why don't we tell them it's fun?' Not just the authority of endless revisions, not just the lists of publications or prizes won, not just the company of poets of public record--just fun. Fun. Fun.... I don't think a book has so pleased me in years, just that it came so unintentionallyto hand. More than anything else, it was a place to say a great many things as a poet, to make clear what I valued...to keep the faith in my own way."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Day Book of a Virtual Poet provides a unique entrance into the ideas and practices--into the life, finally--of one of our great writers. This journal is the result of an extraordinary exchange between Creeley and a group of youngsters who participated in the adventure of an 'on-line' poetry. The teacher here is remarkably candid. ... Here is a rare opportunity for the Creeley reader to appreciate, especially, how a day book can be transformed into a new and richly rewarding literary genre." -- Burt Kimmelman

About the Author

The late Robert Creeley, former poet laureate for the State of New York, was the author of numerous books of poetry, criticism, and prose. He was recognized as one of this nation's most outstanding, and prolific post-war writers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 122 pages
• Publisher: Spuyten Duyvil (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881471284
• ISBN-13: 978-1881471288
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,009,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Author's reflections, January 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Day Book of a Virtual Poet (Paperback)

I don't think a book has so pleased me in years, just that it came so unintentionally to hand. I had been instrumental in getting City Honors School in Buffalo, NY online and then wanted to make some active contribution to the school's online writing program. The "Day Book" collects the pieces I thus wrote and then sent to the common listserv, CHOPS Online. As weeks and then months went by, they accumulated -- and I kept writing them all summer, despite school was out, because it became such fun. More than anything else, it was a place to say a great many things as a poet, to make clear what I valued, to witness the passing of friends as James Dickey, Allen Ginsberg and Denise Levertov, to keep the faith in my own way. Again, that it all becomes a book is a bonus I'd in no way anticipated. --Robert Creeley