The Collected Shorter Poems of Kenneth Rexroth

Expecting delivery on Saturday. But I can already say, since this is my second copy (just wore out binding on my first) that virtually any verse Kenneth Rexroth has given us is deep and wide and so worthy of the name Poetry — little wonder he is revered; wise masters of their chosen art normally are — and Rexroth is a Master!!

This collection is a beautiful summing up of a life devoted to the creation and translation of poetry. As stated in the title, these are relatively short poems. Buy it and treat yourself to a daily gift. Rexroth is a wonderful companion.

I liked the poems I could understand, but there were some I didn't.

I love reading Rexroth for his images and love of women and nature. I first bought this book in 1973. Now I enjoy the digital version on the Kindle Oasis. Life's pleasures.

I have never had such experience before. It was advertised as used acceptable. Is half the book acceptable? I received half the book, torn, starting with page 161. I want my money back.

Always a #1 for us in taste and short turn around in delivery

I discovered Rexroth's poetry at a young age, and he has been a life-long inspiration. I first read these poems in junior high school, and I have owned this book since the early Eighties. I have dipped into it again and again. I had never sought out Rexroth's longer poems until discovering the The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth on Copper Canyon Press a few years ago.Rexroth (1905-1982) was an anarchist and a pacifist. First exposed to the Left in Chicago during World War I and the Twenties, he was a conscientious objector and worked in a hospital in California during World War II. His poetry encompasses the full spectrum of life -- love, nature, mystical spirituality, literature, and politics. His scathing indictments of war and capitalism are a major part of what makes his writing so compelling.This 1966 New Directions collection includes all of Rexroth's previously published shorter poems from 1920 to 1965. The new Complete Poems includes everything in this volume plus several early previously unpublished poems and the later poems published from 1967 through 1979 in addition to the long poems previously published by New Directions as a separate volume. (The longest long poem, "The Dragon and the Unicorn," published in 1952, is 200 pages long!)I suppose there is not much reason to buy this older book now, as the Complete Poems doesn't cost much more. But I still treasure this volume, which has held up well over the years.Here is a quote from "The Wheel Revolves" from "Godel's Proof" (1965):Snows of a thousand wintersMelt in the sun of one summer.Wild cyclamen bloom by the stream.Trout veer in the transparent current.In the evening marmots bark in the rocks.The Scorpion curls over the glimmering ice field.I certainly recommend Rexroth to everyone involved in the liberation movement of the 21st century, the fight for peace and justice and against ecocide.(verified purchase from Guild Books in Chicago)