They specifically mentioned that he worked closely with Black Mountain poet Charles Olson on the effect of natural breath impulse and phrasing.

In a 1972 interview with the Boston Phoenix, Creeley discussed his unique use of phrasing.

“I love irresolution because it has energy,” he had said in the interview. “The phrase for me breaks intuitively.”

Creeley’s keen sense of phrasing may have stemmed from his penchant for music, mentioned attendees at the memorial.

According to Lepson, Creeley is said to have studied the rifts and phrases of Jazz legends like Charlie Parker to develop a sense of style. He even had several of his poems put to music by his friend Steve Lacey, she said.

Though he sometimes sought solitude to write, Lepson remembered, he occasionally listened to music to get a new perspective and distance himself from his work.

He had a great genius for sound and the ways that sound and pause create meaning. Because of this, he was the best reader of his own work, she said.

Lepson also discussed the ups and downs of Creeley’s life.

“Happily and sadly are perhaps the two words he wrote most—always seeing two sides,” said Lepson. “I’ve never seen such a happy-sad person in all my life.”

He was a rebellious and energetic youth that enjoyed writing despite personal hardship, Solano said.

Writing and editing more than 60 works, Mr. Creeley received numerous honors for his efforts—including a Guggenheim fellowship, Yale University’s 1999 Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, two Fulbright fellowships, and a National Book Award nomination.

He was also a former chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

He was involved with Modernists like William Carlos Williams, the Beats, and then the Black Mountain poets like Olson.

Creeley taught for 25 years at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Always a New Englander, Creeley, lived in Providence R.I. with his wife Penelope. He is also survived by, his first two wives, Ann MacKinnon and Bobbie Louise Hawkins, and by his eight children.