For the second half of this century, Robert Creeley's work as an innovative poet has occupied a singular place in postwar American letters. The contributions of Creeley, with Charles Olson, were instrumental, through Projective Verse, to the definition of emerging senses of poetic form in the 1950s. The Black Mountain Review (1954-1957), which Creeley edited, was a landmark literary journal of the period. Creeley's work, along with that of other poets connected with Black Mountain College, has also been a benchmark against which subsequent poetry has been measured. Perhaps most important, Creeley's career has placed him as immediately active in the record of the contemporary American "new poetries." Though known primarily as a poet, Creeley's poetry is intricately tied to other genres of writing, prose the most important among them. He has also made substantial contributions in essays, letters, editing, autobiography, collaborations with artists, the interview, and various...