Poetry. "[Kyger] is one of the finest practitioners of the art of poetry conceived (after Whitman and Williams, among others) as the preservation of experience in language. The scale of Kyger's poetry is human existence; spoken language provides its measure; the animating force is curiousity. Out of these materials she has accomplished something magnificent and beautiful. She has many peers but no betters" -- Ben Friedlander "She's one of our hidden treasures -- the poet who really links the Beats, the Spicer Circle, the Bolinas Poets, the New York School, and the Language poets, and the only poet who can be said to do all of the above" -- Ron Silliman.

Author City: San Francisco, CA USA

A native California writer, Joanne Kyger is the author of more than 20 books of poetry. She is known for her ties to the poets of Black Mountain College, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the Beat Generation. Her most recent books are About Now: Collected Poems, 1957-2004 (National Poetry Foundation, 2007) and Not Veracruz (Libellum Press, 2007). She taught for many years at Naropa University's poetics program, and The New College of San Francisco. She lives on the coast north of San Francisco.