Bay Poetics

by Stephanie Young (Editor)

Poetry. In 1961 Jack Spicer "It is not unfair to say that a city is a collection of humans. Human beings. In their municipal trust they sit together in cities. They talk together in cities. They form groups. Even when they do not form groups they sit alone together in cities." In 2004 Stephanie Young was given her to convene a collection of writing by Bay Area poets. The long-anticipated results are in, all 432 pages of them. A precedent-breaking anthology, BAY POETICS goes to the outer limits of "local" and "poetry," ranging as it does from Napa Valley to Santa Cruz and including poems, essays, lists, short fiction, walking tour reports, manifestoes and all points in between. An experiment in 21st century landscape portraiture you won't want to miss.

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies

Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two years in the making, and published just in time for the earthquake centenary, this anthology shakes up all lines and schools to offer a unique stratigraphy of San Francisco and environs at the edge of the 21st century. It's a collection no one else could have assembled, but one I think people will be looking back to for years to come.

My one gripe is that so many authors have left the Bay Area since it appeared, but that's a true capture of its time as well, esp. in an Athens like San Francisco, where so many come for school but so few can afford to stay.