"Tamalpais Walking"

One of the joys of living in beautiful Marin County is seeing Mount Tamalpais from many different angles throughout the county, and in many different lights throughout the day. We live quite close to this lovely landmark, so I was happy to peruse "Tamalpais Walking: Poetry, History, and Prints" (Heyday Books, 2009), by Tom Killion and Gary Snyder. Killion grew up in the shadow of Mount Tam, as it is affectionately known, and has made a series of prints of and from the mountain, many of which are featured in this book; the prints are strongly influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts. Killion also contributes essays about the history of the mountain. The great poet Gary Snyder, who was affiliated with but also independent from the Beat movement, provides poems he has written over his years of walking Mount Tam. He took the tradition of "walking meditation" from his time in Japan, Nepal, and elsewhere, and began walking up and around Mount Tam in the same meditative fashion, and then writing about it. A few writings from others who often walked Mount Tam, such as Kenneth Rexroth and Jack Kerouac, are also included here. This large, beautifully produced volume is a wonderful weaving together of the prints, the essays, and the poetry. The prints are stunning and the poems are evocative. An added attraction for those of us who have treasured Gary Snyder's writing since the late 1960s is revisiting his poetry in this specific local context. Still another draw, for me, is the good memory of hearing Snyder read his poetry when I was in college. So this book resonates with me on a number of levels. But you don't have to live near Mount Tamalpais to appreciate this gorgeous volume, one that is clearly a labor of love on the part of Killion and Snyder.