I Know A Man by Robert Creeley
I Know A Man
Robert CreeleyAs I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking,—John, Isd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, whatcan we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a goddamn big car,drive, he sd, for
christ’s sake, look
out where yr going.
SELECTED BY LAWRENCE YPIL
There is something about the transience of life, the precariousness of living, but also its pure and utter thrill and pleasure that is captured in this poem by Robert Creeley, which moves even before it begins, changes its mind before we can even reach the first main stop, and ends in a kind of end that doesn’t end which has become the way I have since then aimed to end all poems of mine.
ABOUT LAWRENCE YPIL
Lawrence Lacambra Ypil is a poet and essayist whose work explores the intersection of text and image, and the role of material culture in the construction of cultural identity. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards and on the longlist for The Believer Book Awards for The Experiment of the Tropics, the winner of the inaugural Gaudy Boy Book Prize. His recent chapbook, Ventanilla:Duet, co-authored with historian Martin Dusinberre, was a finalist for the Essay Press Chapbook prize.
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SHARED WITH GRATITUDE
This poem appeared in Selected Poems of Robert Creeley by Robert Creeley, published by University of California Press, 1991. (Available on: Amazon • Bookshop)
DESCRIPTION
“Here, in a new selection of 200 poems from five decades, is the distinctive voice of Robert Creeley, reminding us of what has made him one of the most important and affectionately regarded poets of our time.” (Source)
ABOUT ROBERT CREELEY
Robert Creeley was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on May 21, 1926. He attended Harvard University from 1943 to 1946. In 1946, he published his first poem, in the Harvard magazine Wake. Creeley published more than sixty books of poetry including If I Were Writing This (2003); Just in Time: Poems 1984–1994 (2001); Life & Death (1998); Echoes (1994); Selected Poems 1945–1990 (1991); Memory Gardens (1986); Mirrors (1983); The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945–1975 (1982);… (more)
Read more poems by Robert Creeley • Find books by this poet on Amazon • Bookshop • Or view my library
ENDNOTES
- This is Day 36 of Poems We Carry, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Read A Little Poetry—a living archive I’ve nurtured for two decades. For this milestone series, I invited writers I deeply admire to share poems that have meant something to them over time.
- Explore other works in pursuit of: darkness • despair • motion • Or browse the index
- If this work resonates with you, please consider supporting the archive. Thank you for reading.
