I Know a Man
By Robert Creeley
As I sd to my
friend, because I am
always talking, -John, I
sd, which was not his
name, the darkness sur-
rounds us, what
can we do against
it, or else, shall we &
why not, buy a goddamn big car,
drive, he sd, for
christ’s sake, look
out where yr going.
As a way to generate qualitative data to better understand how poems performed are interpolated in relation to the same poems read on a page, this prototype employs AudiAnnotate to enable comparative analysis of five different performances of Creeley’s poem “I Know a Man.” How might AudiAnnotate aid in the study of recorded/sounded poetry? Does AA afford new ways to study these five unique performances? Developed to generate a means to annotate audio files, I have approached the tool a little differently by editing several recitations of one poem into a single audio file. I import the single audio file into the program Audacity where I then generate time stamped labels of its lines that can be imported into a manifest in the AudiAnnotate platform. Users interfacing with the project can now use the annotated manifest to listen more precisely to separate lines of the poem across different readings.
In my conversation with TISH poet Robert Hogg (See the 27:23 min mark of the SpokenWeb podcast https://spokenweb.ca/podcast/episodes/robert-hogg-the-widening-circle-of-return/) we discuss how understanding the poem “I Know a Man” hinges on hearing Creeley perform the poem. The form of “I Know a Man” employs techniques such as enjambment to generate meaning. Because how and when he breaks his lines generates meaning, I was curious to hear if Creeley’s performance of his own poem changed across performances. Charles Olson, often referred to as the father of postmodern poetics, quotes Creeley in his seminal Projective Verse essay as stating: “FORM IS NEVER MORE THAN AN EXTENSION OF CONTENT.” AA can enable a comparison of not only the timing of Creeley’s different performances of the poem but also all the other paralinual qualities such as timbre, tone, pitch and velocity. Engage with the performances by jumping back and forth, listening to different versions of Creeley’s performance. Listen straight through and then go back and listen in and out of order by clicking the “annotation” tab at the top.
| Time | Annotation | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| 2:31 | I Know a Man | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:33 | As I sd to my | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:34 | friend, because I am | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:35 | always talking, -John, I | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:38 | sd, which was not his | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:39 | name, the darkness sur- | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:41 | rounds us, what | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:42 | can we do against | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:44 | it, or else, shall we & | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:46 | why not, buy a goddamn big car, | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:49 | drive, he sd, for | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:51 | christ's sake, look | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 2:53 | out where yr going. | Bolinas California July, 1971 |
| 0:29 | I Know a Man | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:33 | As I sd to my | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:35 | friend, because I am | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:36 | always talking, -John, I | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:38 | sd, which was not his | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:40 | name, the darkness sur- | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:41 | rounds us, what | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:43 | can we do against | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:44 | it, or else, shall we & | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:46 | why not, buy a goddamn big car, | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:49 | drive, he sd, for | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:51 | christ's sake, look | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 0:52 | out where yr going. | Vancouver Poetry Conference Aug 12, 1963 |
| 1:58 | I Know a Man | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 1:60 | As I sd to my | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:01 | friend, because I am | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:03 | always talking, -John, I | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:05 | sd, which was not his | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:07 | name, the darkness sur- | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:09 | rounds us, what | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:11 | can we do against | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:12 | it, or else, shall we & | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:15 | why not, buy a goddamn big car, | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:18 | drive, he sd, for | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:20 | christ's sake, look | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 2:21 | out where yr going. | Harvard University Oct. 27, 1966 |
| 0:01 | Sound is muffled. Could be that the mic was not close; perhaps in the audience. | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 0:24 | Audience laughter | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 0:57 | "These are all poems...I want/need a cigarette...I'll be back" (cough and faint steps off stage) | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:15 | loud transient. Step or sound of microphone placement | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:20 | Noise floor of tape. Buzz of room or of the recording | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:23 | "Does anyone have a match I can borrow?" | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:29 | Transient. Sound of mic placement or bump on mic near podium ? | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:32 | "These are hard to get back into...such particular senses of the way that the life... things were then. It's hard. Let me try a few more and see what happens..." | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:55 | "...one otherwise... " | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 1:58 | This recoridng is a better quality. The noise floor lower and the signal much clearer. | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:21 | Hit on the microphone here. Is this a lavaliere microphone? | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:23 | laughter. | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:25 | Inaudible mumbles by Creeley and then "Or this. This is one last ..." | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:31 | Much louder noise floor. | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:33 | Recorded too loud. Close to peaking. It also sounds like the playback speed of the tape altered his voice that sounds higher than usual. Was this tape digitized on a different machine at a speed that was different from its recorded speed? | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 2:56 | This recording picks up Creeley's breath a lot more. Is this a lavaliere mic or a condenser mic close up? | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 3:07 | Recoridng is quite hot; very loud and near peaking. Also, you hear ghost voices beneath as if the tape was not properly erased. | Sound Description and Speech Not the poem |
| 0:02 | I Know a Man | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:05 | As I sd to my | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:06 | friend, because I am | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:07 | always talking, -John, I | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:10 | sd, which was not his | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:11 | name, the darkness sur- | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:13 | rounds us, what | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:14 | can we do against | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:16 | it, or else, shall we & | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:17 | why not, buy a goddamn big car, | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:20 | drive, he sd, for | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:21 | christ's sake, look | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 0:23 | out where yr going. | San Francisco State University May 20, 1956 |
| 2:57 | I Know a Man | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:01 | As I sd to my | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:02 | friend, because I am | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:04 | always talking, -John, I | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:06 | sd, which was not his | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:08 | name, the darkness sur- | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:09 | rounds us, what | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:11 | can we do against | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:12 | it, or else, shall we & | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:14 | why not, buy a goddamn big car, | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:17 | drive, he sd, for | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:18 | christ's sake, look | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |
| 3:19 | out where yr going. | Bolinas California circa 1965 - 70 |