The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 15 November 2012
edited by members of Sixteen Rivers Press
Place has become a bit of a catchword for a certain kind of writing. Environmental, architectural, nature writing and memoir all are enhanced by a strong sense of Place. There probably is no place that is not a Place if looked at in the right way. The San Francisco Bay Area has a grander sense of place than many others. Its natural beauty, connectedness to the environment, the setting of its cities, all contribute to a uniquely attractive place that has drawn people since its founding. The Sixteen Rivers Press, named for the number of rivers and tributaries to the bay, has compiled this oustanding volume of poetry. Each piece connects in some way to San Francisco and the Pacific coast. Here is also a broad spectrum of poets, from relatively unknown writers, to prize winners like Czeslaw Milosz, and famous names back to Kenneth Rexroth and Walt Whitman. It is a fine collection, touching on the beautiful setting of this place, but also on love, loss and death, the usual realms of poetry. It is all organized in this volume with a cover featuring a stunning print by Tom Killion, and an overarching tone familiar to people familiar with the San Francisco area. The term "watershed" in the subtitle implies a focus on the natural setting, but the collection is more broad than that. To a reader who knows the Bay Area, the book can be a compelling, warm and inviting journey. To others, it might be less engrossing, but there is enough extremely fine poetry in this collection to warrant any discerning reader's attention.