Distributaries

Discovering a Poet: Charles J. Olson’s Key West Experience

June 11, 2025

Figure 1 Photograph of Charles Olson on what looks like a rowboat, 1944-1945, Key West and Miami. Box 322, Folder 27, Charles Olson Research Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut.

Recollections from an archival research project by Lost & Found Fellow and CUNY Graduate Center student Onur Ayaz

Introduction

Onur Ayaz visited the Charles Olson Research Collection in the Archives & Special Collections at the University of Connecticut in search of the poetry and teachings of Charles Olson, but unexpectedly discovered Olson’s trip to Key West where his poetic genius was born. Below are Ayaz’s experiences and findings throughout the duration of his archival research project.

In winter 1944, a promising director working for the Democratic National Committee would travel to Key West, Florida, in search of rest. Having spent the last few years climbing ranks within Washington politics, American poet Charles J. Olson (1910-1970) would find himself at an impasse, both literally and figuratively. Before working for the DNC, Olson would serve as Associate Chief in the Foreign Language Division of the Office of War Information (OWI). In May, 1944, he resigned in protest. The traditional story follows that Olson would shape postmodern American poetry in lasting ways. Poets, scholars, and educators continue to adopt and workshop a ‘projective poetics,’ from his “Projective Verse” essay. In many ways, Olson’s legacy has been shaped. Thanks to a generous grant from the CUNY Poetics Document Initiative: Lost & Found, I had the opportunity to visit the Charles Olson Research Collection in the Archives & Special Collections at the University of Connecticut.

As a poet and scholar myself, what draws me to Olson is not only his poetry and thinking but his teaching and pedagogy. While most focus on his time at Black Mountain College, a visionary liberal arts college in the south, his teaching record deserves a note of appreciation. Olson first taught at Clark University (1934-1936), a research-focused school located in Worcester, MA. Later, Olson taught at Black Mountain College (1949-1957), located in Black Mountain, NC. After closing the college and proceeding with its disposition, Olson would not teach again until he was hired as a visiting professor at Buffalo (1963-1965), another research-focused school that was newly added into the State University of New York system and, therefore, flush with capital. My primary interests in the archive were the teaching records for these three institutions, simple right? As all archival researchers know, a foray into mixed manuscripts is never so simple.

In the research collection I expected to find a load of materials: graded student papers; handouts feverishly annotated; minutes to departmental meetings; fresh, journalistic-impressions of the students; diaries recounting the classroom experience, and a range of other teaching-related materials. Of course, I didn’t even find half of it (and what I did, I incorporated into my dissertation). Thanks to my 10-day stay in the Mansfield area (a 30-40 minute drive from the archive), I had ample time to pore through the collection. In there, I found what I believe to be a significant, pivotal moment not only in Olson’s life, but in the making of a poet-pedagogue. I learned about Olson’s time in Key West.

Figure 2 Charles Olson sitting against a palm tree in Key West, back facing the camera. 1944-1945, Key West and Miami, Florida., Box 322, Folder 27, Charles Olson Research Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut.

The more I learned about Olson’s time at Key West, the more I have come to appreciate that time and place in his life. Having only recently turned 34, his birthday December 27th, he had gone through a lot in the prior decade: he taught, at the age of 24, for two years at a leading research university; his father passed away; he attended Harvard University’s doctoral program; was awarded a Guggenheim; works as publicity director for the ACLU, and so much more. The man was disillusioned with politics, looking for a new beginning–and begin he would.

In Key West I saw a happy, jubilant, and refreshed Olson.

Figure 3 Charles Olson standing, hands on hips, with a bright smile, 1944-1945, Key West and Miami. Box 322, Folder 27, Charles Olson Research Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut.

In the opening page to January, 1945 journal, Olson writes

To begin again

Not to sin

But sing¹.

The moment I read that I screamed (internally–I wouldn’t want to disturb the student staff). I saw poetry. The further I read the further I realized that I witnessed the making of a poet, especially one still feeling out his voice, his breath. As I later learned, Olson published this poem the following year in Harper’s Bazaar as “A Lion Upon the Floor” only, it changed significantly from draft to published page:

Begin a song

Power and the abstract

distract a man

from his own gain²

While I do not focus on Key West in my dissertation, I do in fact find much resonance here in the unfolding of a poet-pedagogue.

Figure 4 Photograph of Charles Olson smiling by the bay, 1944-1945, Key West and Miami. Box 322, Folder 27, Charles Olson Research Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut.

Figure 5 Photograph of Charles Olson working on the boat, 1944, Key West and Miami, Florida., Box 322, Folder 27, Charles Olson Research Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Connecticut.

Key West I. Filed with a typed transcription. Portions published in Olson: The Journal of the Charles Olson Archives 5 (Spring 1976): p. 3-10. No. 56., January 1945 – February 4, 1945., Box: 64. Charles Olson Research Collection, 1969-0001. Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library.
↩︎
Olson, Charles. “A Lion upon the Floor.” The Collected Poems of Charles Olson: Excluding the Maximus Poems, edited by George F. Butterick, 1st ed., University of California Press, 1987, pp. 12-12. JSTOR, https://doi.ord/10.2307/jj.5973115.16. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024. ↩︎