Customer Reviews

The Selected Poems of Kenneth Rexroth

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I am amazed whe I go into a bookstore in San Francisco and find that they don't carry any of Kenneth Rexroth' many books. For many of us that lived in San Francisco during his life he was the teacher. Very few creative artists have been as generous in praising other artists.

His poetry has it's own flavor. Particularly touching are the series written over many years about his first wife Andree. Go to the library!read him!

This was the first book of Kenneth Rexroth I acquired after reading that the poet Robert Hass counted him among his influences. What I found was that this poet's poet captivated me even more than his successors. If you only ever get one book of Rexroth's work, this one will not fail you. I have carried this little volume with me all over the country, and poignantly out west, and found the themes and messages contained herein provided me with the same deeply satisfying sense of continuity that others might take from a well-worn journal or, heck, even their bible. Inside you'll find everything from soft, subtle works of love to passionate eroticism; from examinations of the poet himself to grand ruminations on the nature of politics and war; and the most beautiful descriptions of the natural world ever written. Some of my favorite pieces--though there are hardly any corners of the book I have not explored and found something to love in--are the most intimate, capturing very specific moments in the poet's life that resonate with a sense of the universal in life:

"On What Planet"
"Lute Music"
"Marthe Away (She Is Away)"
"When We With Sappho"
"A Sword In A Cloud Of Light"

If you love poetry, get this book. If you love history, get this book. If you're a philosopher at heart, get this book. If nature, love, and mortality consume your thoughts, get this book. If the power and boldness of clear, masterful speech thrills you, get this book.