Like his college roommate Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen took both poetry and Zen seriously. He became friends with Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Michael McClure, and played a key role in the explosive poetic revolution of the '50s and '60s. Celebrated for his wisdom and good humor, Whalen transformed the poem for a generation. His writing, taken as a whole, forms a monumental stream of consciousness (or, as Whalen calls it, "continuous nerve movie") of a wild, deeply read, and fiercely independent American--one who refuses to belong, who celebrates and glorifies the small beauties to be found everywhere he looks. This long-awaited Selected Poems is a welcome opportunity to hear his influential voice again.

Author: Philip Whalen
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 05/01/1999
Series: Penguin Poets
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.98lbs
Size: 8.94h x 5.93w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780140589184
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 03/29/1999 pg. 98
Booklist 03/15/1999 pg. 1278

About the Author
Philip Whalen spent fifteen years of formal Zen training in Santa Fe and San Francisco. He is currently the Abbot of Hartford Street Zen Center in San Francisco.