Tales Out of School: Selected Interviews

Poets on Poetry

by Robert Creeley

Five revealing interviews with an American poet whose skills were honed by the upheavals of the 1960s

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1993

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

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this collection. Eighteen good writers contributed chapters on what they remembered about school. Some are extremely good, and none are bad. Maybe not surprisingly, the majority tell of abuse of power by teachers and schoolmates, and how what should be an ennobling and – natch – educational experience, falls far short. At least in the conventional sense. Well worth reading. I particularly liked “Gryphon”, which tells of the reign and fall of an unusual substitute teacher. When a student points out that six times eleven is 66, not the 68 the teacher had said, the teacher says “Yes, so it is. But, and I know some people will not entirely agree with me, at some times it sixty-eight. In higher mathematics, which you children do not yet understand, numbers are more fluid… I’m your substitute teacher. Think of six times eleven equals sixty eight as a substitute fact. What’s the problem?”

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am glad I read this book. While it is not an easy read. These are long, and in some cases, esoteric interviews, they were transcripts that invited me to look at both writing and the world in new and thoughtful ways. Reading Creeley caused me to slow down a bit and think about things. And while that is not very comfortable it is very helpful.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

interviews with the poet. not memorable except for the final one, the interview being a well-read existentialist and getting into a lot of subtle philosophical sides to Creeley's work.

[Dan Sofaer]

This is a very wise man.