the term san francisco renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on san francisco and which brought it to prominence as a hub of the american poetic avant-garde. however, others (e.g., alan watts, ralph j. gleason) felt this renaissance was a broader phenomenon and should be seen as also encompassing visual and performing arts, philosophy, cross-cultural interests (particularly those that involved asian cultures), and new social sensibilities. ==first beginnings== kenneth rexrothâpoet, translator, critic, and authorâis generally considered to be the founding father of the renaissance. rexroth was a prominent second generation modernist poet who corresponded with ezra pound and william carlos williams and was published in the objectivist anthology. he was amongst the first american poets to explore japanese poetry traditions such as haiku and was also heavily influenced by jazz. if rexroth was the founding father, madeline gleason was the founding mother. during the 1940s, both she and rexroth befriended a group of younger berkeley poets consisting of robert duncan, jack spicer and robin blaser. gleason and duncan were particularly close and read and criticized each other's work. ==a movement emerges== in april 1947, gleason organized the first festival of modern poetry at the lucien labaudt gallery, gough street. over the space of two evenings, she brought twelve poets, including rexroth, robert duncan and spicer to an audience of young poets and poetry lovers. this was the first public recognition of the range of experimental poetic practice that was current in the city. during the 1950s, duncan and robert creeley both spent periods of time teaching at black mountain college and acted as links between the san francisco poets and the black mountain poets. many of the san francisco writers began to publish in cid corman's origin and in the black mountain review, the house journals of the black mountain group. spicer's interest in the cante jondo also led to links with the deep image poets. in 1957, spicer ran his seminar poetry as magic at san francisco state college with duncan as a participant. ===impact of the "new american poetry"=== perhaps the crucial cultural document here was (and is) donald allen's anthology the new american poetry 1945-1960. in this assemblage, allen had grouped some of the poets "san francisco renaissance", and as marjorie perloff observes: {{quotation|duncan emerg(ed) as the leading poet of this group even as he also belongs to black mountain. these poets, who largely became known through oral performance in the bay area, include the following thirteen: [[brother 
Beat_Generation Culture_of_San_Francisco,_California Literary_movements Modernist_poetry_in_English