Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh

Reflections on Mountaineering is a book about the psychology of adventure and the surprising realization that the issues people regularly face are also present on the mountains’ high slopes.

In Alan Goldman’s pensive collection of narrative poetry, Reflections on Mountaineering, each passage, a musing on how life and the sport of mountain climbing intersect, evokes readers’ thoughts on struggle and existence and what it means to be human while pushing oneself beyond their limits.

Goldman’s Reflections on Mountaineering can be seen as experimental. With no overarching structure, each piece is written either in traditional rhyming schemes or in the style of prose poetry (see Russel Edson’s works for examples); or free-flowing blank verse.

The plainness of its language delivers the insightful voice of a sage, a hermit on the mountaintop waiting for a climber to reach him. Goldman’s verse elicits the stylings of a well-remembered university professor whose words draw their students in, imparting kernels of truth into their psyches.

Beyond an anthology of poems, Alan Goldman’s Reflections on Mountaineering is also a book about the psychology of adventure, full of musings on why people venture out of their comfort zones.

Reflections on Mountaineering invites readers to meditate on the profundity of life and the joy of living, all without the exhaustion of climbing mountains.

More than verse, each poem in this complex anthology will leave readers thinking and contemplating on life for hours on end, like being given a koan by an old ascetic—and here are just a few excerpts from Reflections on Mountaineering:

Awed Humility

Your majestic wall of alpine splendor momentarily freezes our will to strive

Depicting a near-unscalable mountain, Awed Humility captures the awe mountaineers feel when climbing the often deadly and steep slopes of great mountains; it is a reminder that despite the ascendancy of man over himself, nature still looms far above.

Mountain of My Dreams

Ah, the mountain of my dreams, will you spur me on to achieve the impossible

Mountain of My Dreams will resonate not just with climbers but any sportsman or anyone with a drive to succeed. There’s a mountain inside of everyone that they all must overcome to reach whatever summit hinders them from their goal.

Wonder and Embrace

Ah, the lure of these big things and the insignificance of my form

Another meditation on humility, Wonder and Embrace recollects the drive of adventure most people have and the majesty that permeates the world, drawing humanity to witness their beauty and always to persevere.

The Freedom of the Hills

Peering from my tiny ledge, I see the creatures below, carrying on like ants

In mountain climbing, as one scales the ridges and stands atop the peak, a sobering emotion rushes throughout the body, and The Freedom of the Hills portrays this succinctly. It is a stark realization that there is freedom beyond the petty problems of society, that there is a larger world, a freer world possible—but only if it is allowed to grow.

Being and Nothingness

Existential act of impressing meaning out of nothingness

Deeply existentialist in its themes (and titled after the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s most influential work), Being and Nothingness reflects what it means to be human. With lines referencing the existentialist doctrine of “existence precedes essence” and the idea of imposing meaning on a meaningless world, it is a piece brimming with life and the hope of adventure.

Early Winter Winds

Did I overstep something unwary

This piece is short and understandable, but within its lines is an encouraging sentiment of will and ambition—that beyond struggle, there is always a prize, whether physical or spiritual.

My Soul Lures Me Higher

Inside my soul that lures me ever higher, no matter how hard the fall

My Soul Lures Me Higher is a humbling but invigorating passage on the ever-striving spirit of humankind, that whatever world people find themselves in, whatever peak, people will always be driven by adventure.