A Wicker Basket

Robert Creeley first published “A Wicker Basket” in his 1959 collection A Form of Women. Creeley was a highly prolific poet, publishing over 60 books during his lifetime, with A Form of Women holding distinction as one of his first—released only seven years after his first book, Le Fou (1952). As a member of the experimental Black Mountain poets, Creeley worked to push the limits of American poetry. “A Wicker Basket” exemplifies the counter-culture mores of late 1950s America, communicating a mode of moving through the world as well as celebrating the slang, drug use, and open sexuality typical of the Bohemians of the time. Additionally, the poem’s blend of rigid rhyme scheme and casual diction exemplify the line Creeley walked between traditional and avant-garde verse features.

Poet Biography

Robert Creeley was born in Arlington, Massachusetts in 1926 to medical professional parents. In his first few years of life, Creeley lost both his left eye and his father. Creeley was raised by his nurse mother, Helen, and began writing and publishing in high school. Creeley matriculated at Harvard University in 1943, but he left school to serve as an ambulance driver for the American Field Services in Burma and India.