January 13, 2012

Who is Kenneth Rexroth?

In describing love and marriage the American poet Kenneth Rexroth said,

The process as I see it goes something like this: from abandon to erotic mysticism, from erotic mysticism to the mysticism of sacramental marriage, thence to the realization of the ethical mysticism of universal responsibility.

Wikipedia says in 1941 "Rexroth married the nurse and poet Marie Kass. They opened up their home to weekly literary discussions, anti-war protesters, and Japanese-American convalescents avoiding internment." Wikipedia also says, "Rexroth self-identified as a philosophical anarchist," and that he was "a pacifist, a conscientious objector during World War II, and was actively involved with helping Japanese-American internees."

Who is Kenneth Rexroth? I don't know. But I'm enjoying finding out.

A while ago my father told me about a man he'd met whose job it was, during the 1940s in Ontario, to transport German and Japanese-Canadian prisoners from one prison camp to another. Dad said he was a really nice guy. I believe him wholeheartedly. What a fucked up time.

post by NAMERS. The image is a collage of the military awards of Alexander Haig. I don't know why.

3 comments:

Dave M said...

A lot of German POW's were involved in make work projects in northern manitoba which also seems messed up. One of the projects was a 500 person log cabin movie theatre in Riding Mountain Park. It is still in use too.

s$s said...

"a 500 person log cabin movie theatre..."

weird, weird, and weirder.

that led me to some searching around online. I found a peculiar article about "Hard-partying POWs" published in the Winnipeg Free Press.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/hard-partying-pow-camp-a-historical-gem-124635979.html

s$s said...

That movie theater should've been in Twin Peaks.