Literary Nonficton. Poetry History & Criticism. California Studies. VISIONS & AFFILIATIONS: A CALIFORNIA TIMELINE 1980-2005 is the second of a two-volume chronoencyclopedia of a scene that stretches over sixty-five years. People, ideas, and stories appear, disappear, and reappear as the second half of the century moves forward. Poetry is a major element in this kaleidoscopic California scene. It is argued about, dismissed, renewed, denounced in fury, asserted as divine, criticized as pornographic. Poetry is as Western as the Sierra foothills, and the questions raised here go to its very heart. Beginning with the publication of Kenneth Rexroth's first book, this all-encompassing history-as-collage plunges us forward into the 21st Century. California authors keep generating massive anthologies in an attempt to tame the chaos of California, to pretend it isn't there. Yet there it is—staring them in the face like a great bear, alive, hungry and more than a little dangerous.
Author City: OAKLAND, CA USA
Jack Foley is a poet and critic living in the San Francisco Bay area. Foley's radio show, "Cover to Cover," is heard every Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. on Berkeley station KPFA and is available at the KPFA web site; his column, "Foley's Books," appears in the online magazine The Alsop Review. His poetry books include Letters/Lights—Words for Adelle; Gershwin; EXILES; ADRIFT (nominated for a Northern California Book Reviewers Award); Greatest Hits 1974-2003; Ash on an Old Man's Sleeve; and "A Disordered City," chapbook included in AHADADA READER 3. His books of criticism include the companion volumes, O POWERFUL WESTERN STAR: POETRY & ART IN CALIFORNIA (winner of the Artists Embassy Literary/Cultural Award 1998-2000) and FOLEY'S BOOKS: CALIFORNIA REBELS, BEATS, AND RADICALS as well as The Dancer and the Dance: A Book of Distinctions. He is well known for his poetry performances with his wife, Adelle, also a poet. In June 2010, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Berkeley Poetry Festival.
Reviews and Other Links
Al Young
Mary Ann Sullivan @ the Tower Journal