(born September 24 , 1935 ) is an American Poet associated with the Deep Image group.
Kelly was born in Brooklyn, New York , to Samuel Jason and Margaret Rose (Kane) Kelly. He did his undergraduate studies at the City College of the City University Of New York , graduating in 1955 . He then spent three years at Columbia University . He has worked as a translator and teacher, most notably at Bard College , where he has worked since 1961 . Kelly's other teaching positions have included Wagner College (1960-61), the University At Buffalo (1964), and the Tufts University Visiting Professor of Modern Poetry (1966-67). In addition, he has served as Poet in Residence at the California Institute Of Technology (1971-72), Yale University (Calhoun College), University Of Kansas , Dickinson College , and the University Of Southern California .
Kelly has published more than fifty books of poetry and prose, including ''Red Actions: Selected Poems 1960-1993'' ( 1995 ) and a collection of short fictions, ''A Transparent Tree'' ( 1985 ). Many were published by the Black Sparrow Press . He also edited the anthology ''A Controversy of Poets'' ( 1965 ).
Kelly received the Los Angeles Times First Annual Book Award (1980) for ''Kill the Messenger Who Brings Bad News'' and the American Book Award , Before Columbus Foundation (1991) for ''In Time''.
There is a fictional character named Robert Kelly , featured prominently in the X-Men movies and comic books, particularly those published between 1976-1993. The coincidence between the two is not accidental. X-Men writer Chris Claremont chose the name in honour of his Bard College professor, the poet Robert Kelly.
- ''Armed Descent'', New York: Hawk's Well Press, 1961.
- ''Her Body Against Time'', Mexico City: Ediciones El Corno Emplumado, 1963.
- ''Round Dances'', New York: Trobar Press, 1964.
- ''Enstasy'', Annandale: Matter, 1964.
- ''Lunes/Sightings'', with Jerome Rothenberg, New York: Hawk's Well Press, 1964.
- ''Words in Service'', New Haven: Robert Lamberton, 1966.
- ''Weeks'', Mexico City: Ediciones El Corno Emplumado, 1966.
- ''Song XXIV'', Cambridge: Pym-Randall Press, 1966.
- ''Devotions'', Annandale: Salitter, 1967.
- ''Twenty Poems'', Annandale: Matter Books, 1967.
- ''Axon Dendron Tree'', Annandale: Salitter, 1967.
- ''Crooked Bridge Love Society'', Annandale: Salitter, 1967.
- ''A Joining: A Sequence for H:D:'', Los Angeles:Black Sparrow Press, 1967.
- ''Alpha'', Gambier, Ohio: The Pot Hanger Press, 1967.
- ''Finding the Measure'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968.
- ''Sonnets'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1968.
- ''Songs I-XXX'', Cambridge: Pym-Randall Press, 1968.
- ''The Common Shore'', (Books 1 - 5) Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1969.
- ''A California Journal'', London: Big Venus Books, 1969.
- ''Kali Yuga'', London: Jonathan Cape, 1970. A Cape Goliard Book.
- ''Flesh Dream Book'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1971.
- ''In Time'', West Newbury: Frontier Press,1971
- ''Cities''. West Newbury: Frontier Press, 1972.
- ''Ralegh'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1972.
- ''The Pastorals'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1972.
- ''Reading Her Notes'', Uniondale: privately printed at the Salisbury Press, 1972.
- ''The Tears of Edmund Burke'', Annandale, privately printed, 1973.
- ''The Mill of Particulars'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1973.
- ''The Loom'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1975.
- ''Sixteen Odes'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1976.
- ''The Lady Of'', Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1977.
- ''The Convections'', Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1977.
- ''The Book of Persephone'', New Paltz: Treacle Press, 1978.
- ''Kill the Messenger'', Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1979.
- ''Sentence'', Barrytown: Station Hill Press, 1980.
- ''Spiritual Exercises'', Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1981.
- ''The Alchemist to Mercury: an alternate opus'', Uncollected Poems 1960-1980, edited by Jed Rasula, Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1981.
- ''Mulberry Women'', with drypoints by Matt Phillips, Berkeley: Hiersoux, Powers, Thomas,1982.
- ''Under Words'', Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1983.
- ''Thor's Thrush'', Oakland: The Coincidence Press, 1984.
- ''Not this Island Music'', Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1987.
- ''The Flowers of Unceasing Coincidence'', Barrytown: Station Hill Press, 1988.
- ''Oahu'', Rhinebeck: St Lazaire Press, 1988.
- ''Ariadne'', Rhinebeck: St Lazaire Press, 1991.
- ''Manifesto for the Next New York School'', Buffalo: Leave Press, 1991.
- ''A Strange Market'', (Poems 1985-1988), Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1992.
- ''Mont Blanc'', a long poem inscribed within Shelleys, Ann Arbor, Otherwind Press, 1994.
- ''Red Actions: Selected Poems 1960-1993'', Santa Rosa, Black Sparrow Press,1995.
- ''The Time of Voice'', Poems 1994-1996. Santa Rosa, Black Sparrow Press, 1998.
- ''Runes'', Ann Arbor, Otherwind Press, 1999
- ''The Garden of Distances'', with Brigitte Mahlknecht, Vienna / Lana, Editions Procura, 1999
- ''Unquell the Dawn Now : a collaboration with Friedrich Holderlin Schuldt'', McPherson, 1999
- ''Lapis'', Black Sparrow Press, 2005
- ''Shame = Scham : a collaboration with Birgit Kempker'', McPherson, 2005
- ''Samphire'', Backwoods Broadsides Chaplet Series Nº 97 , 2006
- ''Threads'', First Intensity Press, 2006
- ''May Day'', Parsifal Editions, 2006
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