Revell’s personal triumphs, fears and doubts are represented as well, as in “My Trip,” written for his mentor, poet Robert Creely. Sitting in his motel, Revell asks, “Does anything remain of home, at home?” It is a intimate portrayal of the universal question of the traveler.
A New Yorker by birth and a poet for the last 30 years, Revell is the author of seven previous collections of poetry, including Erasures in 1992 and Arcady in 2002. A recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundations, he currently lives with his wife and son in Las Vegas, commuting to Salt Lake City to teach.
This was Revell’s third visit to Harvard. He first came in 1989 and more recently in 2000. This year, he made a point of visiting Thoreau’s retreat at Walden Pond, which he had never seen.
Although he enjoys his trips to Harvard, Revell said he finds the city of Boston somewhat intimidating.
“Boston gives me the willies,” he said. “Just when I think I’ve got it figured out and I’m going somewhere, it turns out I’m headed somewhere else.”