I attended last night the 75th birthday of Robert Kelly (also a celebration of his 50 years teaching in Bard College). Robert is wonderfully easy to love — throughout the event, one awaited a standing ovation, just for the pleasure of dousing this coot in affection. (And Ann Lauterbach near-wept, speaking his introduction.) But why is Mr. Kelly so love-worthy? Because of his constant genteel lovingness, of course. Also because he makes being a poet look easy.
And perhaps being a poet IS easy. We all wake to hear, outside our rooms, a crow shouting:
ca ca
ca ca ca
and we know instinctively what this means. It means:
silver is not gold
gold is not dross
silver is not gold
gold is not dross
Then we shake off sleep, stand up and shave, and as we sever the hairs on our chin, we lose the power to translate Crow Talk. Then we begin our day.
(Here’s a poem of Robert Kelly’s:
http://jacketmagazine.com/06/kellyrobert.html
)