This has been a big month, with two new books out. Pay attention to this space for upcoming readings and discussion of Gerry Crinnin and Jack Foley, their work, and why we need these books.
Creative Death, by Jack Foley (Igneus Press, 2023)
“Jack Foley is doing great things in articulating the poetic consciousness of San Francisco.”
–Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Cover to Cover,” KPFA-FM radio.
“I’ve been following Jack Foley’s work for many years now…What he gives us here, with a nod to Rilke & others, is his own add-on to an ancient orphic poetry of love and death.”
–Jerome Rothenberg, poet, author of the Technicians of the Sacred
“To read this books is to enter the mind of a poet who embodies living history. His intellect is not less formidable than ever, while his accumulated knowledge and wisdom are at their peak.” –Deborah Bachels Schmidt, poet
“There is no one alive who has done more for California poetry than Jack Foley. He is the most important living person for California poetry…the leading man of letters of California [though] Jack remains scandalously underrecognized.”
–Dana Gioia, poet and author of Can Poetry Matter?
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Forest Lawn Poems, by Gerry Crinnin (Igneus Press, 2023)
The Valor Sector At Forest Lawn Cemetery
Coasting down a slight hill I saw them
buried in battalions. I parked the bike
and took off the helmet, waded right in
to the names. I laugh-cried to find
so many guys named Elmer, an old soldier
named Harry Quick. Head to toe, buried
close to each other, like in boot camp,
and stepping back, their graves
like dragons’ teeth, the final tank trap or
just enough room to lay behind and shoot,
pray.
–from Forest Lawn Poems, by Gerry Crinnin (Igneus Press, 2023)
