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Robert Lax (1915–2000) was an American poet, known in particular for his association with famed 20th century Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton. A third friend of his youth, whose work sheds light on both Lax and Merton, was Ad Reinhardt. During the latter period of his life, Lax resided on the island of Patmos, Greece. Considered by some a self-exiled hermit, it should be noted that he welcomed visitors to his home on the island, but did nothing to court publicity or expand his literary career or reputation.

He was born in Olean, New York, and attended Columbia University, in New York City, graduating in 1938. On leaving school, he worked for several mainstream magazines before he began his process of moving into a simple life. An expert juggler, he worked in a circus for some time during his initial years of wandering.

Robert Lax's most famous book, Circus Of The Sun, a meditation on the Creation, was heralded by the New York Times as "perhaps the greatest English language poem of this century".

In his later poetry, Lax concentrated on simplicity and on making the most out of the fewest components. This makes him one of the patron saints of literary minimalism. Some of his poems can go on for several pages using no more than four words and a punctuation mark. In some instances, Lax used repetition of a few words either as a devices for instilling a sense of serenity or to create a sense of surprise in the reader when a change in the pattern occurred. Despite the limited vocabulary of his poems, some create narratives, while others seem more like examples for use in meditative practice or even spiritual discipline. A good example of this abstract technique can be seen in the following untitled poem, first published in New Poems (1960):

one bird

two birds

one bird

two birds

two birds

one bird

two birds

one bird

one bird

two birds

one bird

two birds

two birds

one bird

two birds

one bird

one

• List of American poets
• Anti-war movement
• Hermits
• Vietnam War

• http://www.hermitary.com/articles/lax.html
• http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/sep99/20a.html
• http://pages.britishlibrary.net/thomasmerton/biddle.htm