Great Regulars: "Allen and I came from the far ends

of the nation," Snyder writes in an introduction to "The Selected Letters of Allen Ginsberg and Gary Snyder" (Counterpoint, $28, 321 pages). "I was from German and Scandinavian working farmer/logger/fisherman world of pre-WWII Puget Sound, Allen from the New York City Immigrant Left. We met in a backyard in Berkeley, and again in Kenneth Rexroth's wood-floored apartment in the foggy Avenues zone of San Francisco. . . . We argued a lot and were not easy on each other. I made him walk more, and he made me talk more. It was good for both of us."

from Jeff Baker: The Oregonian: Bookmarks: Beat poets: 40 years of letters

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