Customer Reviews

Selected Poems, 1945-2005

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So fresh in his language and perceptions, so consistently profound, and so charming -- like James Schuyler or Gary Snyder, Creeley feels genuinely present in his poems: to have this volume on your shelf is to have him in the room with you. More people should know the gentle and inspiring presence of this wonderful teacher and writer. "It's all moved inside, / all that dear world // in mind for forever, / as long as one walks / and talks here, / thinking of you."

Creeley won me over early, in junior high, when my teacher at the time handed a well thumbed book of Mr. Creeley's poetry. From the first page I was caught up in a wonderful tangled world of poems constructed from small moments of happy introspection - given a kind of sincere reverence by Mr. Creeley's intense scrutiny of what even a small moment can mean; a drunken dinner, a ride in a Cadillac, a slice of apple pie topped with ice cream - these moments becomes a minor religious awakening in the hands of Robert Creeley. He is by far my favorite poet, likely because my own small epiphanies are so much like those he writes of.

Bob Creeley was perhaps the original beatnik, a quiet man who turned himself outward and in so doing made a great impression upon the world with his work and his persona. We should all know more about him -- his best poems (of his many fine ones) should be with us always.