Women Poets of JapanPoet essayist Kenneth Rexroth (1905 1982) was a high school dropout, disillusioned ex Communist, pacifist, anarchist, rock climber, critic and translator, mentor, Catholic Buddhist spiritualist and a prominent figure of San Francisco's Beat scene. He is regarded as a central figure of the San Francisco Renaissance and is among the first American poets to explore traditional Japanese forms such as the haiku.