The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth

Rating:
Summary: An entomologist, not a bug.
Review: Kenneth Rexroth was one of the most significant and influential American poets of the last half of the 20th century. This long overdue volume collects all his published poetry, as well as a wealth of previously uncollected material. Rexroth's erudition is remarkable, and his strongly syllabic verse is sometimes subtle, sometimes didactic, but always richly musical and intellectually sophisticated. His long poems, particularly "The Phoenix and the Tortoise" and "The Dragon and the Unicorn" are especially recommended, as are the "translations" he wrote in the guise of a Japanese woman poet, "The Love Poems of Marichiko."

Rexroth has for too long been overshadowed by his brief association with the Beats. Hopefully, this collection will demonstrate the lasting contribution he made to American literature.

Now with any luck Sam Hamill and Company at Copper Canyon will see fit to publish a collected translations, and perhaps a collected prose...