Letter to LRB, current number online:
Drive, he sd
From Aram Saroyan
Stephen Burtıs account of Robert Creeleyıs famous poem I Know a Manı
reminded me that once, at a time when Creeley and I both lived in Bolinas,
Creeley in conversation bridled at the popular appropriation of his line
drive, he sdı (LRB, 21 February). As quoted, it misconstrued the poem, he
said, explaining that the word driveı, which occurs at the beginning of the
final stanza, was meant to finish the narratorıs musing at the end of the
previous stanza: buy a goddamn big car// driveı. So that what followed
shouldnıt be read, drive, he sd, for/christıs sake, look/out where yr
going,ı but rather: he sd, for/christıs sake, look/out where yr going.ı It
still puzzles me how so practised a grammarian as Creeley expected any but
the former reading, in the absence of a semi-colon, dash or ellipsis after
driveı.
Aram Saroyan
Los Angeles
|