Poetics Program celebrates Creeley with two-day symposium

UB’s Poetics Program, with university and community partners, will present a two-day multimedia symposium celebrating the centenary of Robert Creeley, a former UB faculty member and one of the most revered poets of the 20th century.

“For Love,” a title taken from Creeley’s breakthrough poetry volume of 1962, opens at 6 p.m. May 21 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, 1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. The program continues May 22 with events on the UB North Campus and the UB Anderson Gallery, 1 Martha Jackson Place near the South Campus.

The symposium takes place in partnership with the UB Poetry Collection, the UB Art Galleries, Just Buffalo Literary Center, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum and Black Rock Arts.

More information, including an event schedule and registration form, is available on the symposium’s website.

Day one of the symposium features multimedia talks that cover different dimensions of Creeley’s practice, both as a composer and performer of his works, as well as his relationship with visual artists. Benjamin Friedlander, PhD ’99, an editor of Creeley and one of his former students, will be among the presenters. The premier of Jason Duval’s Creeley-inspired film “Time Passes,” accompanied by a live musical performance by saxophonist Steve Baczkowski, will be among the evening’s screenings.

The following day begins with a talk at the UB CFA Gallery’s show “Robert Creeley: Active Complement,” featuring Creeley’s artist book collaborations, and continues with a later talk at the Poetry Collection’s Creeley exhibit “Onward!” An evening roundtable at the Anderson Gallery will include such luminaries as Charles Bernstein, who held the David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters at UB and was a co-founder of the Poetics Program with Creeley; Elizabeth Willis, professor of poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and poet Isaac Jarnot, both of whom studied with Creeley; and Joseph Conte, UB professor of English, who was friends with Creeley. The symposium will continue with a performance of jazz musician Steve Lacy’s songs setting Creeley poems to music, led by Jonathan Golove, UB associate professor of music and artistic director for the Center for 21st Century Music, followed by community readings of Creeley’s work.

Creeley (1926-2005) was an influential poet, essayist and editor who served as the Samuel P. Capen Professor of Poetry and Humanities at UB. In 1991, he joined with several UB colleagues in founding the Poetics Program, part of a 37-year career at the university.

His affiliation with such historic literary formations as the Black Mountain School and the Beat poets established him as an important figure during a new turn in American poetry occurring in the mid-20th century, according to Judith Goldman, associate professor of English and director of the Poetics Program.

“Poetry at that time was shifting away from traditional forms toward works that take shape as they are composed, seeking to channel an intensive, kinetic expression freely constructing the poem,” she says. “This experimental stance, so familiar to us now, was famously formulated by Creeley in the premise: ‘form is never more than an extension of content.’”

His highly influential work made life experience, the present moment and relational intimacy central. Creeley’s poetry is characterized by use of speech over literary language, brief lines with destabilizing breaks, play with syntax and minute attention to sound and rhythm in poems.

“Creeley’s poetry is also an important example of pursuing philosophy by means of art, as it constantly examines processes of thought, modes of knowing, how and whether language can be fit to thought and feeling and to the external world,” says Goldman.

“With this symposium, we can celebrate the circle of friendship and the culture of creativity and critical inquiry Creeley cultivated.”