https://davidgaryan.wixsite.com/ladige/california-poets
“California Poets” — an online anthology of contemporary poets working on the West Coast
This coming summer will mark the fifth anniversary of the first installment of David Garyan’s on-line anthology of poets who have spent a good portion of their lives as poets residing in California. This is not to say that the poets he has selected so far amount, in the sequence presented, to a hierarchy, and the project is far from being finished if it is to be as comprehensive as it has the potential to be. Unlike print culture, this electronic template permits an editor to work up a “draft” of an anthology that could be then be rearranged into other combinations.
There are at least three dozen living poets residing in California who are not listed in the project so far, but it could be the case that some of them were approached and decided not to the part of it. Additionally, there are at least four dozen poets who were active in California between 1945 and 1975 who deserve recognition as predecessors whose work is absolutely central to the composition of any “canon” of West Coast poetry after World War II. Furthermore, there are another two dozen poets I could name who were prominent between 1975 and 1995 who have either died or withdrawn from any public role as a poet, but whose work complements both the predecessors just referred to as well as those in David Garyan’s multi-part anthology up to this point.
In the meantime, lest any poet at work in California feel neglected by what they might perceive as inexplicable delay in having their work featured in David Garyan’s project, here is some of the company you are keeping as you wait — patiently, I hope — for your turn to come round:
Jack Grapes; Juan Felipe Herrera; Kevin Opstedal; Doren Robbins; Aleida Rodriguez; Leslie Monsour; Joe Safdie; Murray Mednick; Victoria Chang; Jeannette Clough; Michael Davidson; Gary Gach; Art Beck; Glover Davis; James McMichael; Doug Messerli; Nancy Lynn Woo; Lee Herrick; Marilyn Chin; Stephen Yenser; Carol Muske-Dukes; David St. John; Brian Kim Stefans; Joan Jobe Smith; Fred Voss; Will Alexander; Charles Bukowski; Paul Naylor; Amy Gerstler; Michael Hannon; Harryette Mullen; Francisco Alarcon; Tony Wallin-Sato; Robin Coste Lewis.
If you are not in one of the eight sections below, you could very well deserve as much as anyone else included. On the other hand, review the list above and ask yourself if you are really a poet demonstrably superior to everyone in the list. I, for one, would never say that, and I hope that anyone left out in the first eight installments has has enough self-perspective to make the same concession. It can be hard to let go of competitiveness; it’s mashed into our mental compulsion templates from a very early point. Please, though, be kind to yourself and to everyone else who is striving to help poetry flourish in these very difficult times.
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GO TO:
https://davidgaryan.wixsite.com/ladige/california-poets
California Poets
Parts 1 through 8
Part 1 – August 27th, 2020
Amy Uyematsu
Bart Edelman
Bill Mohr
Bruce Willard
Charles Harper Webb
D.A. Powell
David Garyan
Gail Wronsky
Glenna Luschei
Paul Vangelisti
Rae Armantrout
Suzanne Lummis
Part 2 – February 23rd, 2021
Carine Topal
Cecilia Woloch
Elena Karina Byrne
Glenna Luschei
Grant Hier
Kim Shuck
liz gonzalez
Lois P. Jones
Lynne Thompson
Maw Shein Win
Patty Seyburn
Rooja Mohassessy
Ron Koertge
Susan Rogers
Part 3 – June 25th, 2021
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Charles Jensen
Clint Margrave
Corrinne Clegg Hales
David L. Ulin
Eloise Klein Healy
Glenna Luschei
Henry Morro
Jonathan Yungkans
Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Laurel Ann Bogen
Lorene Zarou-Zouzounis
Lucille Lang Day
Marsha de la O
Michelle Bitting
Phil Taggart
Part 4 – December 29th, 2021
Alicia Elkort
Boris Dralyuk
Brenda Hillman
Cathie Sandstrom
Christopher Buckley
Clive Matson
Dana Gioia
Daniel Shapiro
devorah major
Donna Hilbert
Ellen Bass
Frank X. Gaspar
Gary Young
Glenna Luschei
Harry Northup
Holly Prado (In Memoriam)
K. Silem Mohammad
Kate Gale
Mariano Zaro
Mary Fitzpatrick
Michael C. Ford
Mike Sonksen
Neeli Cherkovski
Pam Ward
Phoebe MacAdams
Rusty Morrison
S.A. Griffin
Shelley Scott (In Memoriam)
Sholeh Wolpé
Shotsie Gorman
Tony Barnstone
Willis Barnstone
Part 5 – December 22nd, 2022
Arthur Sze
Brendan Constantine
Carol Moldaw
Charles Upton
Cole Swensen
Connie Post
David Garyan
Gary Soto
Glenna Luschei
Jacqueline Berger
James Cagney
James Cushing
Jeremy Radin
Jim Natal
John Brandi
Judith Pacht
Judy Juanita
Kim Dower
Kim Addonizio
Kosrof Chantikian
Luis J. Rodriguez
Marjorie R. Becker
Millicent Borges Accardi
Paul Lieber
Rick Lupert
Sarah Maclay
Scott Wannberg (In Memoriam)
Troy Jollimore
Valentina Gnup
Part 6 – October 25th, 2023
Alejandro Murguía
Candace Pearson
Carol V. Davis
Celeste Goyer
Clare Chu
Daniel Yaryan
David Garyan
Deena Metzger
Dig Wayne
Dion Jahmal
Doreen Stock
Doug Knott (In Memoriam)
Elizabeth Iannaci
Gail Newman
Guy Biederman
Holaday Mason
Jan Steckel
Jorge Argueta
Jose Hernandez Diaz
Kirsten Casey
Landon Smith
Linda Ravenswood
Maggie Paul
Matt Sedillo
Rafael Jesús González
Raffi Joe Wartanian
Regina O’Melveny
Renée Gregorio
Robt O’Sullivan Schleith
Stephen Kessler
Susan Cohen
Suzanne Bruce
Ted Burke
Terry Ehret
Timothy Steele
Tongo Eisen-Martin
Toni Mirosevich
Part 7 – July 1st, 2024
A.L. Nielsen
Allegra Silberstein
Bill Harding
Bob Stanley
Cathy Colman
Cathyann Fisher
Constant Williams
Dana Teen Lomax
David Lloyd
Deborah A. Meadows
Dee Allen.
Denise Low
Diane Funston
Dion O’Reilly
D’mani Thomas
Elizabeth Metzger
Eric Priestley (In Memoriam)
Gregory Orfalea
Hanna Pachman
Heather Bourbeau
Jack Foley
James Ragan
Jan Hanson
Kathy O’Fallon
Kim Noriega
Kristin Sanders
Laura Mullen
Lisa Rosenberg
Mimi Tempestt
Nelson Gary
Richard Modiano
Robert Lavett Smith
Roger Funston
Sandra Doller
Sandra Tanhauser
Séamus Isaac Fey
Stephen Meadows
Susan Hayden
Tim Xonnelly
Wendy-O Matik
Part 8 – January 8th, 2025
A.D. Winans
Albert Flynn DeSilver
Beverly Burch
Carolyn Miller
Clyde Always
D.L. Lang
Dane Cervine
Dave Seter
David Holper
Eliot Schain
Erik Noonan
Gail Entrekin
Jay Passer
Jessica Barksdale
Jonathan Hayes
Juan Delgado
K. Anne Rickertsen (In Memoriam)
LeeAnn Pickrell
Lory Bedikian
Maurya Simon
Maya Khosla
Megan Breiseth
Michael Tod Edgerton
Molly Fisk
Pat Hull
Patrick Cahill
Polly Geller
Robin H. Lysne
Sarah Rosenthal
Taylor Graham
Tenny Arlen (In Memoriam)
Thomas Piekarski
Tiff Dressen
Victoria Melekian
William Archila
William Taylor Jr.
About Bill Mohr