another poet gone

March 30, 2005

Robert Creeley died today. I heard him read at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac in 1999. It seems like yesterday. He was a powerful presence. I took this photo earlier that same day at the Whistler House at a reading by Joyce Johnson. I remember glancing over at him and seeing how intently he was listening and thinking it would make a good portrait. When I heard the news of his death on All Things Considered this afternoon I remembered that October day in 1999 vividly and knew I'd been privileged to encounter another one of America's great poets now gone.

 

Today's Reading
The Port by Henry Beetle Hough

This Year's Reading
2005 Booklist