Friday’s
Diner
Crazyhorse, No. 69, Spring 2006
College of Charleston
Three poems by Robert
Creeley adorn this issue of Crazyhorse by way of memorial, the first
reveals a Beckettian substratum in the centenary year.
Where
from, where to
the
thought to do—
Where
with, whereby
the
means themselves now lie—
Wherefor,
wherein
such
hopes of reconciling heaven—
Even
the way is changed
without
you, even the day.
(“Valentine
for You”)
A charming interview with the poet and his
wife took place in North Carolina the year before.
“Again (Wrightsville Beach)”
structures the caesura into a halting rhetoric on Crusoe, varying the rhythm.
The
water, waves, sand, the backdrop of the houses
because
it’s all been developed—Friday’s Diner, Crusoe’s
Condos—
it’s
all as it would be, the locals, the tourists,
whoever
got here first and what they could make of it.
But
the old story is real too, the footprint, the other...
Finally, there is “Echo”, a
great understanding, usefully to be applied by critical biographers of all
stripes.
What’s
a life if you look at it,
what’s
a hat if it doesn’t fit.