Sesshu Foster’s Cartography of L.A. Poets

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Sesshu Foster, a poet and fiction writer who deserves serious consideration for being appointed the next poet laureate of Los Angeles, assembled a chorus of poets talking about their neighborhoods; I missed the publication of the article in the LA Review of Books when it came out this past fall. I want to thank William Archila for sending me the link, which worked well enough in my browser but doesn’t work at all in my blog’s formatting. So much for the vaunted utility of Word Press! However, I imagine if you type Sesshu Foster, Los Angeles Review of Books, October 24, 2018, “Los Angeles, City of Poets” into your browser, you’ll find yourself with a baker’s dozen of poets-in-residence, all glowing with L.A.’s singular refulgence.

The poets who contributed their layers of memory and notations include:

Brent Armendinger
Jessica Ceballos y Campbell
Cathy Linh Che
Kenji Liu
Steve Abee
Ramon Garcia
Terry Wolverton
Harry Gamboa
Eric Howard
Mike Sonksen
Bruna Mori
Will Alexander
William Archila

I only know the work of half of these poets, so I especially grateful to Mr. Foster for alerting me to emergence of those who have recently begun to have collections published. Mr. Foster is doing what any serious poet laureate should do, which is to spread knowledge about other poets to the community that she or he serves.

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