One of philip whalen’s most anthologized poems,
“Sourdough Mountain Lookout” is representative of themes and techniques central to Whalen’s
work as a whole: a love of the natural world; an
interest in Buddhist and Western philosophy; the
use of the long poem as a format; and the inclusion of a variety of kinds and levels of language
in his poetry. The poem’s dedication to kenneth
rexroth not only credits the encouragement that
Rexroth gave Whalen early in his career but also
indicates both Whalen’s affiliation with the San
Francisco renaissance and the inspirational role
that Rexroth played in the Beat turn to Asian poetry. The poem was first published as an excerpt in
the Chicago Review Zen issue of 1958, thereby associating Whalen with Beat Zen and writers such
as gary snyder, jack kerouac, and Alan Watts.
It is also included as the last poem in Whalen’s
first published book of poetry, Like I Say, 1960, and
represented Whalen in Donald Allen’s seminal
anthology of The new american poetry, 1945–
1960 of that year.
“Sourdough Mountain Lookout” is based on
Whalen’s experience working as a fire lookout
during the summers of 1953–55 in the Mount
Baker National Forest in Washington. In an interview with John Suiter, Whalen noted that the
poem came from “bits and pieces” of writing that
he did up on the mountain, adding that allen
ginsberg’s “howl” was a model and inspiration
as he put the poem together from journal entries
the following year in Berkeley. The poem is similar to other poems of this period in that it is written in an open form. Often a rough blank verse
in rhythm predominates with somewhat irregular
stanzas, usually ranging from three to six lines each
with occasional instances of rhyming couplet and
even a nursery-rhymelike ditty about the miracle of
the egg. Whalen varies the tone and the language
of the poem, too, mixing casual conversational colloquialisms and slang with homespun sayings of
his grandmother, philosophic musings, ironic selfreflections, and quotes from books that he is reading, making for a rich mixture of voices. The poem
is thus an example of how Whalen’s poetry graphs
the mind’s movement, although it does not contain
the daring linear experiments of such later poems
as “Self Portrait, From Another Direction.”
The speaker of the poem is a fire lookout (recalling Whalen’s experience) who also acts as a
contemporary version of the Chinese or Japanese
hermit poet or Buddhist priest who spends time in
the mountains contemplating and communing with
nature. The poem begins in a conversational and
humorous tone as the speaker climbs the mountain
to the lookout at the beginning of summer: “I always say I won’t go back to the mountains / I am
too old and fat there are bugs mean mules / And
pancakes every morning of the world.” It ends as
he closes up for winter and comes back down the
mountain. In between, the speaker recounts his
solitary life on the mountaintop in company of a
bear, a mouse, a deer, and stars, juxtaposed with
philosophical musings on the nature of the universe in flux. Critic Geoffrey Thurley notes of this
poem that “reflections upon the relations between
the mind and the outer world constitute Whalen’s
major theme.” Throughout the poem, the speaker
contrasts opposites: the hot sun of midday with the
starry night and the speaker’s memories and meditations with his view of mountains and lakes.
As he meditates further from his rock lookout,
reflection becomes more focused on Buddhist tenets. He compares the surrounding mountains to
the circle of beads of a Buddhist rosary, which the
speaker imagined as the Buddha meditating in the
center’s void. Toward the end of the poem, Whalen
refers to the Prajnaparamita Sutra, a key text of
Zen Buddhism whose message is that the seeming
opposites of form and emptiness are one. His hip
translation of the closing lines of the sutra describe
his departure from the lookout, while suggesting
the loss of ego experienced in meditation: “Gone /
Gone / REALLY gone / Into the cool / O MAMA!”
Whalen’s Beat use of slang here is a more effective
way to express alternative consciousness than ordinary language. The last two lines of the poem
also play with meaning, characteristic of the way
Whalen ends many of his poems: “Like they say,
‘Four times up, / Three times down.’ I’m still on the
mountain.” The speaker may suggest that though
he is leaving, he takes the mountain state of mind
with him or that he has never really left the mountaintop. Such a paradoxical ending can challenge,
but for Whalen, such challenges, including his use
of quotes from other writers, are ways to educate
and encourage readers to further research and
deeper thought. The idea of education also relates
to “Since You Ask Me,” Whalen’s statement of poetics and his claim to the title of Doctor or teacher:
“I do not put down the academy but have assumed
its function in my own person. . . .” Thus, “Sourdough Mountain Lookout” is not only deservedly
one of Whalen’s most well-known poems but also
an important early expression of his poetics, Buddhist interests, and role as poet and teacher.
Bibliography
Holsapple, Bruce. “A Dirty Bird in a Square Time:
Whalen’s Poetry.” In Continuous Flame, edited by
Michael Rothenberg and Suzi Winson, 129–149.
New York: Fish Drum, Inc., 2004.
Suiter, John. Poets on the Peaks. Washington, D.C.: Counterpoint, 2002.
Thurley, Geoffrey. “The Development of the New Language: Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, and Gregory Corso.” In The Beats: Essays in Criticism, edited
by Lee Bartlett, 165–180. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1981.
Jane Falk