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xkyczar
May 27, 2003, 2:56 PM
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Registered: Jan 9, 2003
Posts: 106
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I've been reading my way through the collected works of Kenneth Rexroth, a San Fransisco based poet. A lot of climbing refrences pop up in his early work, leading me to think he must have been somewhat of a technical climber. This would have been in the 30's and 40's on the west coast and possibly the east coast.
Has anyone here heard of him as a climber? I've included one of his "climbing" poems to see if anyone has any idea of where it takes place. The only Hunter's Hill climbing area I've heard of is in Austrailia.
ON WHAT PLANET
Uniformly over the whole countryside
The warm air flows imperceptibly seaward;
The autumn haze drifts in deep bands
Over the pale water;
White egrets stand in the blue marshes;
Tamalpais, Diablo, St. Helena
Float in the air.
Climbing on the cliffs of Hunter?s Hill
We look out over fifty miles of sinuous
Interpenetration of mountains and sea.
Leading up a twisted chimney,
Just as my eyes rise to the level
Of a small cave, two white owls
Fly out, silent, close to my face.
They hover, confused in the sunlight,
And disappear into the recesses of the cliff.
All day I have been watching a new climber,
A young girl with ash blond hair
And gentle confident eyes.
She climbs slowly, precisely,
With unwasted grace.
While I am coiling the ropes,
Watching the spectacular sunset,
She turns to me and says, quietly,
?It must be very beautiful, the sunset,
On Saturn, with the rings and all the moons.?
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neadamthal
May 27, 2003, 3:01 PM
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Registered: Dec 2, 2002
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never heard of any of it, but i like the poem... sounds like they might just be gettin' it on after they climb!
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xkyczar
May 27, 2003, 3:12 PM
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Registered: Jan 9, 2003
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Getting it on with young women was definitely one of Rexroth's specialties.
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rockinitinark
May 27, 2003, 3:25 PM
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Registered: Sep 15, 2002
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Rexroth was pretty much the man of the times. He was arrested for owning half a brothel(very climber like yes?) and he backpacked across the country many times, and europe. So i'd uuh say yeah more then likely he was a some what climber, even if it was just scrambling about.
yancey
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