Listen

by Robert Creeley

extremely rare,very good condition

42 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1972

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

[Interzonatron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly a little hard to follow, like most Creeley works, but I do believe that’s the point. It’s a drama of sorts, with only 2 characters: he & she. The feeling that it conjured within me while reading it was that of a one sided conversation, especially with a loved one. It’s as if each character is speaking over the other, while also losing a since of identity, autonomy and becoming increasingly codependent. It wasn’t until I almost finished it that I found there was “Production Notes” at the end of the book that are to be read along with the text. And a note for one of the first lines states: “a man speaking to himself as if he spoke to someone else, having someone in mind”. I feel this note is the hidden key for the text. And ultimately this is the internal dialogue of a broken hearted man, longing for “she” - someone to hear his voice again, to “listen” to him.