The wonderful focus of you

by Joanne Kyger

66 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1980

About the author

Joanne Kyger was an American poet. She published more than twenty books of poetry and prose. Kyger lived in Bolinas, California since 1968, where she edited the local newspaper. She also occasionally taught at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics of Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

a collection of Kyger poems from the mid to late 70s. she focuses on themes of early creation of man and indigenous stories of the region of her home of Bolinas, CA. Many moments are rooted in the contemporary of everyday 1970s living and cannabis consumption. A great way to mix the realism of her life with the surrealism of her storytelling.

Many esoteric themes of moon phases and Buddhism yogi practices. A great piece of her "California Zen" style that feels like an elevated version of Brautigan's poems.

Read at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. I wish I could own a copy of this but only 776 copies were ever produced and their current resale price is only going up.

Favorites include "Saturday Full Moon September" and of course "Destruction"

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joanne Kyger is definitely one of the centres of 20th century American poetry for me. It really doesn't get any better than the light touch of Joanna Kyger (and Philip Whalen and Bernadette Mayer). They make the best look deceptively breezy.