believes in the power of words and ascertains that
they shouldn’t be used lightly, in “letter 3” he
states “Let those who use words cheap…Let them
not talk what is good for the city”. Olsen’s
“Projective verse” was the seminal essay which
influenced the beat generation. This essay and
Olsen’s other writings led to a “projection” of the
“visualisation” and “Performance” of poetry. It
laid the groundwork for a shamanic awakening in
Poetry. This “shamanic awakening” would come
in the form of the beat generation.
III
Then there was Robert Creeley who has been
called “A beat before the beats” (Hemmer, 2007).
He was editor of Black Mountain review which
published the likes of Ginsberg and Rexroth. He
befriended many writers such as Kerouac, Weiners
and Olsen. Creeley is known, like Olsen for mainly
being a theorist. He has stated that the poem is
the process of definition and that the poet must
allow things to realise themselves to their fullest
possible degree. Zukofsky wrote of Creeley’s work
that it is his “thoughtfulness that makes the
shape—the metaphysics of loneliness”. In this
sense Creeley is a poet on the margins like Spicer
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