KENNETH REXROTH'S CONTRIBUTION

WHEN I WORKED WITH CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS I RECORDED THE REMAINS OF A CABIN OF AN INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS POET, KENNETH REXROTH AT SAMUEL P. TAYLOR STATE PARK. HE ALSO WAS A CRITICAL ANALYST. HE LIVED FROM 1905 TO 1982. HE WAS A CENTRAL FIGURE IN SAN FRANCISCO RENAISSANCE. HE INFLUENCED THE BEAT GENERATION. HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN POETS TO EXPLORE JAPANESE POETRY AND TRAVELED THERE AS WELL AS CHINA.

HE WAS BORN IN INDIANA. HIS PARENTS DIED WHEN HE WAS YOUNG SO HE LIVED WITH HIS AUNT IN CHICAGO AND WENT TO ART SCHOOL THERE. WHILE IN CHICAGO HE FREQUENTLY WENT TO MEETING PLACES OF POLITICAL RADICALS.

HE TOURED THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST; KANSAS, COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO. THEN MOVED TO GREENWICH VILLAGE. HE LIVED AS A PASTULENT IN HOLY CROSS MONASTERY IN N.Y.C.HE SAID IT WAS PERHAPS THE HAPPIEST TIME OF HIS LIFE IN MEDITATION.

BY AGE 19 HE HITCHHIKED ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND WORKED WITH THE FOREST SERVICE IN THE NORTHWEST. HE BOARDED THE STEAMSHIP IN HOBOKEN AND EXPLORED NEW MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THEN TO PARIS.

HE MET HIS 1ST WIFE IN SAN FRANCISCO AND HE LIVED IN CALIFORNIA THE REST OF HIS LIFE. HE MARRIED ANDREE DUTCHER AT FIRST SIGHT WHEN HE THE REST OF HIS LIFE. HE MARRIED ANDRE DUTCHER WHEN HE SAW HERAT HIS APARTMENT. SHE WAS A COMMERCIAL ARTIST AND PRINTER. THEY SHARED MANY INTERESTS AND HE SAID THEY HAD PERFECT RELATIONSHIP. HOWEVER, IT DETERIORATED BY THE TIME KEN WAS 35.

FOLLOWING THIS IN 3 YEARS HE MARRIED ANOTHER POLITICIAN AND OPENNED THEIR HOME TO VARIED LITERARY FOLKS. IN 5 YEARS THEY SEPARATED.

BY 1949 KEN TRAVELED TO EUROPE WITH MARTHA LARSEN AND THEY MARRIED IN FRANCE. THEY HAD TWO CHILDREN. BY 1956 MARTHA FELL IN LOVE WITH POET ROBERT CREELEY. REXROTH PLEADED FOR HER TO STAY AND REMOVED HER NAME FROM HIS POETRY.

IN 1968 HE WOULD MOVE TO SANTA BARBARA AND TAUGHT SOME COURSES AT UCSB. IN A FEW YEARS HE MARRIED CAROL TINKER, HIS LONGTIME ASSISTANT. THEY WERE A COUPLE UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1982. (I INTERVIEWED CAROL WHILE COMPLETING MY SURVEY OF S.P. TAYLOR STATE PARK). WE FOUND SEVERAL OF HIS POEMS THAT WERE WRITTEN ABOUT HIS CABIN IN THE PARK. MUCH OF HIS WORK WAS CLASSIFIED AS EROTIC LOVE POETRY. HE LIKES ASIAN POETRY AS WELL AS ANCIENT GREEK POETRY. REXROTH WAS INVOLVED IN THE FAMOUS POETRY READING IN SAN FRANCISCO IN 1955. THEY NAMED A STREET AFTER HIM. HE WROTE CULTURAL CRITICISM THAT IS IN HIS ANTHOLOGIES. FROM 1968 TO 1973 HE BECAME A LECTURER AT U.C. SANTA BARBARA. HE BECAME FAMOUS AMONG HIS STUDENTS AND INFAMOUSWITH ADMINISTRATION FOR INFLAMATORY REMARKS ON ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM AND LAZINESS. HE WAS A PACIFIST AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR DURING WWII. HE HELPED JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERESTS.

REXROTH DIED IN SANTA BARABARA IN 1982. HE TRANSLATED JAPANESE AND CHINESE WOMEN POETS AND PROMOTED FEMALE POETS HERE AND OVERSEAS.

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