* and are indented the characteristic space (1 em) from the poem’s left margin. Read them as if they were one with the lines which they follow.Insofar as the specific lines of these various poems are, in each case, the defining rhythmic unit, it is crucial that their integrity be recognized, else a false presumption of a poem’s underlying beat may well occur in those cases where a runover line, i.e., a line broken by the limits of a page’s dimensions, may be mistaken for the author’s intent. Therefore all such lines are preceded by this symbol * and are indented the characteristic space (1 em) from the poem’s left margin. Read them as if they were one with the lines which they follow.
R.C.
*This note appeared in The Collected Poems of Robert Creeley, 1945–1975. Please note that in this second volume of collected poems, however, a slightly different symbol has been used to identify runover lines.