Joanne Kyger
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Joanne Kyger (November 19, 1934 – March 22, 2017) was an
American poet The poets listed below were either born in the United States or else published much of their poetry while living in that country. A B C D E F G H I–J K L M N O P Q *George Quasha (born 1942 in poetry, 1942) R ...
. The author of over 30 books of poetry and prose, Kyger was associated with the poets of the
San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watt ...
, the
Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...
, Black Mountain, and the New York School. Although Kyger is often characterized as a prominent female Beat poet in the predominately male inner circle of Beat Generation writers, she never considered herself as belonging to the Beat movement. Nor did she formally identify with any other movement; her work invokes various schools of poetry without belonging to any of them. In ''Reconstructing the Beats'', Amy L. Friedman calls Kyger "an important link between several major axes of American poetry and writing in the twentieth century." Linda Russo, in the webzine
Jacket A jacket is a garment for the upper body, usually extending below the hips. A jacket typically has sleeves and fastens in the front or slightly on the side. Jackets without sleeves are vests. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and ...
's edition devoted to Kyger, notes that "there is no one way to talk about her work except as that of a singular individual." Kyger's early poetry was influenced by
Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...
's "projective verse" concept of letting breath and open construction, rather than rhyme and syntax, guide poetic composition. This influence continued to shape her mature work. In a 2010 interview Kyger says, "You want to make it so that someone could say it. I try to 'score' the lines for the page with that in mind, the breathing, the timing." Unlike Olson, notes Dale Smith in his essay "Joanne Kyger and the Narrative of Every Day," Kyger "focuses on events and happenings, moving herself out of the way as a kind of recording instrument . . . faithful to specific moments in time and attendant to the many spirits or moods of landscape." In a 2007 review of Kyger's book ''About Now: Collected Poems'', Lewis MacAdams describes Kyger as from the "School of Backyard Poets, who look out their kitchen windows and see the universe." Kyger's poems emerged from a daily literary practice of recording thoughts, events, and dreams. Most of the poems are dated, either in the title or at the end. Much like journals, they include everything from philosophical musings to the weather. Themes—arising from her practice of
Zen Buddhism Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...
, study of consciousness, explorations of ancient Greek and Native American mythologies, frequent travels to Mexico, observations of the natural landscape, and daily life in a small coastal town—continue from book to book, like installments in an autobiography. In a 2011 interview, Kyger says, "I think of notebook writing like a practice—I try and do it whether I have anything good or bad or interesting to say. And the chronology becomes the narrative, a history of a writing 'self.'"


Biography


Early life and education

Joanne Elizabeth Kyger was born on November 19, 1934, in
Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California, United States, and the second largest city in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the ci ...
, to Jacob Kyger, a Navy captain, and Anne (Lamont) Kyger, a
Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
, city employee of Canadian descent. Kyger moved often, living in China, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, until the age of 14, when the family (including Kyger's two sisters) settled in Santa Barbara. Her parents separated permanently in 1949. Kyger's first published poem appeared in her school's literary magazine when she was five. At
Santa Barbara High School Santa Barbara Senior High School, "Home of the Dons," is situated on a sprawling campus in Santa Barbara, California in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Among the oldest high schools in California and one of five high schools in the Di ...
, Kyger co-edited the features column of the school newspaper with Leland Hickman. In 1952, she enrolled at Santa Barbara College (later
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
), where she studied philosophy and literature and started the school's first literary magazine. Renowned critic
Hugh Kenner William Hugh Kenner (January 7, 1923 – November 24, 2003) was a Canadian literary scholar, critic and professor. His studies on Modernist literature often analyzed the work of James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Samuel Beckett. His major study of ...
introduced her to the works of Modernist poets, such as
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
and
William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. His '' Spring and All'' (1923) was written in the wake of T. S. Eliot's '' The Waste Land'' (1922). ...
, while Paul Wienpahl introduced her to the works of
Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...
and
Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...
. In her 2015 notes from an earlier interview, Kyger recalls that the philosophers inspired her interest in Zen Buddhism: "Heidegger had come to the study of 'nothing.' Then I found D. T. Suzuki's book on Japanese Zen and I thought, Oh! this is where you go with this mind. This 'nothing' is really 'something.'" Kyger left the university in 1956, one freshman biology course short of a degree in philosophy and literature.


San Francisco Renaissance and the Beats

Kyger moved to
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
1957 at the age of 22, where she met
Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry. Brautigan's work has been publi ...
, who introduced her to
City Lights Bookstore City Lights is an independent bookstore-publisher combination in San Francisco, California, that specializes in world literature, the arts, and progressive politics. It also houses the nonprofit City Lights Foundation, which publishes selected ...
and the bohemian neighborhood of North Beach. Working in
Brentano's Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States. As of the 1970s, there were four Brentano's in New York: the Fifth Avenue flagship store at Rockefeller Center, one in Greenwich Village, one in Manhasset ...
bookstore in the City of Paris department store by day and sharing her poetry at The Place bar by night, Kyger became a part of the literary scene and she was invited to join the Sunday Meetings where she read her poems aloud. In 1958, Kyger met
Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate ...
, whom she would marry in 1960. Snyder introduced Kyger to
Philip Whalen Philip Glenn Whalen (October 20, 1923 – June 26, 2002) was an American poet, Zen Buddhist, and a key figure in the San Francisco Renaissance and close to the Beat generation. Biography Born in Portland, Oregon, Whalen grew up in The Dalles f ...
, and they became lifelong friends, sharing the sensibilities that defined their similar poetic styles. Kyger's print debut, "Tapestry #3," appeared in Spicer's mimeographed magazine ''J'' No. 4 in 1959, and she gave her first public poetry reading on March 7, 1959, at the Beer and Wine Mission. During this period she moved to the East-West House, a communal center for those interested in Asian studies, and studied with
Shunryū Suzuki Shunryu Suzuki (鈴木 俊隆 ''Suzuki Shunryū'', dharma name ''Shōgaku Shunryū'' 祥岳俊隆, often called Suzuki Roshi; May 18, 1904 – December 4, 1971) was a Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the Unite ...
Roshi at the Sokoji Temple in
Japantown is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...
.


Japan and India

On January 30, 1960, Kyger left California by ship to join Snyder in Kyoto, Japan. Since Japanese customs frowned upon unmarried couples living together, they were married at the American Consulate in Kobe on February 23, three days after Kyger arrived in Japan, followed by a Zen marriage ceremony performed at
Daitoku-ji is a Rinzai school Zen Buddhist temple in the Murasakino neighborhood of Kita-ku in the city of Kyoto Japan. Its ('' sangō'') is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex is one of the largest Zen temples in Kyoto, covering more than . In addition to ...
in Kyoto five days later. While living in Japan, Kyger wrote poetry, studied Buddhism with
Ruth Fuller Sasaki Ruth Fuller Sasaki (October 31, 1892 – October 24, 1967), born Ruth Fuller, was an American writer and Buddhist teacher. She was important figure in the development of Buddhism in the United States. As Ruth Fuller Everett (during her first ...
at Ryosen-an—the zendo of the First Zen Institute's Kyoto branch, learned flower arranging, taught English, and acted in small roles in Japanese
B movies A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, ...
. In December 1961, Kyger and Snyder traveled to India with
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...
and
Peter Orlovsky Peter Anton Orlovsky (July 8, 1933 – May 30, 2010) was an American poet and actor. He was the long-time partner of Allen Ginsberg. Early life and career Orlovsky was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, the son of Katheri ...
. They met with the
Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
in March 1962. The following month, Kyger and Snyder continued their travels in Singapore, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. During this period, in addition to writing poems that would be included in her first book, Kyger recorded her travels in diaries, which were published in 1981 as ''The Japan and India Journals 1960–1964''. The autobiographical text—which chronicles, in part, her growing frustration with Snyder's expectations and Ginsberg's antics—is considered an important document of the Beat era, offering a rare female perspective on the male-centric movement. In the foreword of the 2000 reissue of the book,
Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political acti ...
calls it "one of the finest books ever in the genre of 'journal writing'" and "a surprisingly (surreptitiously) feminist tract as well: woman artist struggles for identity and independence in the 1960s."


Early successes

In January 1964, Kyger left Snyder to his studies in Japan and returned alone, her marriage disintegrated, to San Francisco. She met painter and student of Buddhism Jack Boyce and married him in 1965 after divorcing Snyder. The same year, she participated in the Berkeley Poetry Conference, meeting poets
Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...
and
Ted Berrigan Edmund Joseph Michael Berrigan Jr. (November 15, 1934 – July 4, 1983) was an American poet. Early life Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining ...
. She edited an edition of ''Wild Dog'' magazine, and ''The Tapestry and the Web'', her first book of poems—with drawings by Boyce—was published. The following year, Kyger and Boyce visited Europe and settled in New York City for a year. In 1967, Kyger received a residency at the National Center for Experiments in Television in San Francisco. Drawing on Descartes's ''
Discourse on the Method ''Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences'' () is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. It is best known as the source of the famous quotation ...
'', she translated the philosopher's work into a poem-video titled "Descartes and the Splendor of. A Real Drama of Everyday Life. In Six Parts." The video, Kyger's only one, aired in November 1968. During this period, she met
Carlos Castaneda Carlos César Salvador Arana (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998), better known as Carlos Castaneda, was an American anthropologist and writer. Starting in 1968, Castaneda published a series of books that describe a training in shamanism t ...
and
Michael Harner Michael James Harner (April 27, 1929 – February 3, 2018) was an American anthropologist, educator and author. His 1980 book, ''The Way of the Shaman: a Guide to Power and Healing,'' has been foundational in the development and popularization o ...
and discussed the illusions of a peyote vision she had in 1959.


The Bolinas years

At the end of the '60s, Kyger joined other poets following the
back-to-the-land movement A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarianism, agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree o ...
. In 1969 she settled in the small coastal town of
Bolinas, California Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line dis ...
, with Jack Boyce. The community and the landscape of Bolinas would feature prominently in her work from that point on. In 1970, she separated from Jack Boyce, and the following year, she bought a house on the Bolinas Mesa, which she shared with
Peter Warshall Peter Warshall (1940–2013) was an ecologist, activist and essayist whose work centers on conservation and conservation-based development. He attended Camp Rising Sun in 1958 and 1959. After receiving ab A.B. in biology from Harvard in 1964, he w ...
. In 1971, she accompanied Warshall and a group of Harvard students to Puerto Rico to study a colony of rhesus monkeys, and embarked on a Carl Jung–inspired study of dreams that became ''Desecheo Notebook'', published the same year. Kyger and Warshall also traveled to Chiapas, Mexico. Kyger's ''All This Every Day'', was written at that time and published in 1975, the year her relationship with Warshall ended. In the mid-70s, she began teaching occasionally at the
New College of California New College of California was a college founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1971 by former Gonzaga University President John Leary. It ceased operations in early 2008. New College's main campus was housed in several buildings in the Mission ...
, an activity she continued until 2001. In 1977, she also became a regular teacher in the summer writing program at the
Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, in ...
at
Naropa University Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named after the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university ...
in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
. There she met Canadian-American writer, artist, and naturalist Donald Guravich, who would become her lifelong partner and collaborator. He joined her permanently in Bolinas in 1978 and they were married in 2013. They lived in Bolinas until her death in 2017.


Mexico

Beginning in the mid-80s and continuing for almost three decades, Kyger and Guravich frequently traveled to Mexico, often to Oaxaca, but also to Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Chiapas, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán and Veracruz. These trips provided inspiration for several volumes of Kyger's poetry, including ''Phenomenological'', an edition in the series A Curriculum of the Soul that explores the nature of consciousness.


Later life and death

Kyger became the Wednesday editor of the ''Bolinas Hearsay News'' in 1984, a post she held for over 20 years. During this period, she continued teaching occasionally at Naropa University and the New College, as well as teaching at
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...
and offering writing classes in Bolinas. In 2000, her 1981 collection of autobiographical writings was reissued as ''Strange Big Moon: Japan and India Journals, 1960–1964''. More recent poetry collections include'' Again: Poems 1989–2000'', ''As Ever: Selected Poems'', ''The Distressed Look'', and'' God Never Dies''. In 2006 she was awarded a grant from the
Foundation for Contemporary Arts The Foundation for Contemporary Arts (FCA), is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City that offers financial support and recognition to contemporary performing and visual artists through awards for artistic innovation and potential. It was ...
Grants to Artists Award. ''About Now: Collected Poems'' was published in 2007 by the National Poetry Foundation and received the 2008 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award for Poetry. ''On Time: Poems 2005–2014'', one of her last book of poems, was published by City Lights in 2015. Kyger describes her work in her 2005 artist statement: Buddhism Without A Book Joanne Kyger was not just a student of Zen Buddhism, but an advocate for the simpler, calmer way of life it practiced. Though she often took hallucinogenic medication to achieve such a state, she only encouraged others to search for serenity of mind, body, and soul. Per definition, "Zen meditation, is a way of vigilance and self-discovery which is practiced while sitting on a meditation cushion. It is the experience of living from moment to moment, in the here and now." She embraced this lifestyle completely as shown throughout her poetry, even in her later works. In "Buddhism Without A Book," the speaker highlights how Buddhism is not just a religion but a state of being, which one can partake in even if they do not possess an instruction manual. As the speaker states, "another person passed simplicity on to you," which suggests it is a lifestyle to be shared in hopes of helping those with "fear and hate" (2-3, 11). For those who are fearful of the proper way to meditate, she calms them with the reassurance that it is "not perfect, but intimate;" therefore, one does not need to have all the right yoga positions because all one needs is his/her "mind" (6,5). She does not want to pressure people into a philosophy, but rather a release from "the futility of maintaining/ those troublesome states" (8-9). This way of life is an antidote to a world of violence, hate, and hostility. All it takes is a moment to "lift the corners of your mouth slightly/ and take three breaths" to achieve a state of calm in a world in constant turmoil (12-3).   Kyger died at age 82 on March 22, 2017, at her home in Bolinas, California, from lung cancer, in the company of her husband, Donald Guravich. Kyger had been working on a new book, ''There You Are: Interviews, Journals, and Ephemera''. It was published in September 2017 by Wave Books. She was described by the
San Francisco Gate The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
as "a leading poet of the San Francisco Renaissance and a rare female voice of the male-dominated Beat generation."


Bibliography

*''The Tapestry and the Web'' (San Francisco: Four Seasons Foundation, 1965) *''Joanne'' (Bolinas: Angel Hair, 1970) *''Places To Go'' (Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1970). Illustrations by Jack Boyce *''Desecheo Notebook'' (Berkeley: Arif Press, 1971) *''Trip Out and Fall Back'' (Berkeley: Arif Press, 1974). Illustrations by Gordon Baldwin *''Trucks: Tracks'' (Bolinas: MesaPress. 1974). With Franco Beltrametti; illustrations by Piero Resta *''All This Every Day'' (Bolinas: Big Sky, 1975) *''Lettre de Paris'' (Berkeley: Poltroon Press, 1977). With Larry Fagin *''The Wonderful Focus of You'' (Calais: Z Press, 1980). *''Mexico Blondé'' (Bolinas: Evergreen, 1981). Illustrations by Donald Guravich *''The Japan and India Journals 1960–1964'' (Bolinas: Tombouctou, 1981). Cover illustration by Ken Botto. . Reissued as ''Strange Big Moon: The Japan and India Journals, 1960–1964'' (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2000). *''Up My Coast'' (Point Reyes Station: Floating Island Publications, 1981). Illustrations by Inez Storer. *''Going On: Selected Poems, 1958–1980'' (New York: Dutton, 1983). (hardcover); (paperback) *''The Dharma Committee'' (Bolinas: Smithereens Press, 1986). Cover illustration by Donald Guravich *''Man & Women'' (Berkeley: Two Windows Press, 1987). With Michael Rothenberg; illustrations by Nancy Davis *''Phenomenological'' (Canton: Grove Publications for Institute of Further Studies Curriculum of the Soul Series, 1989). Illustrations by Donald Guravich. *''Just Space: Poems 1979–1989'' (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1991). Illustrations by Arthur Okamura. *''Some Sketches from the Life of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky'' (Boulder: Rodent Press and Erudite Fangs, 1996). *''Pátzcuaro : December 17, 1997–January 26, 1998'' (Bolinas: Blue Millennium Press, 1999). *''Some Life'' (Sausalito: Post-Apollo Press, 2000). *''Again: Poems 1989–2000'' (Albuquerque: La Alameda Press, 2001). *''As Ever: Selected Poems'' (New York: Penguin Poets, 2002). *''Ten Shines'' (N.p.: Nijinsky Suicide Health Club, 2002). Cover illustration by Nemi Frost *''The Distressed Look'' (Brunswick: Coyote Books, 2004) *''God Never Dies'' (Santa Cruz: Blue Press, 2004) *''Detektivgeschichten der Leidenschaft'' (Berlin: Stadtlichter Presse, 2005). *''About Now: Collected Poems'' (Orono: National Poetry Foundation, 2007). (hardcover); (paperback) *''Not Veracruz'' (New York: Libellum, 2007). *''Lo & Behold: Household and Threshold on California's North Coast'' (Taos: Voices from the American Land, 2009). Illustrations by Donald Guravich *''2012'' (Santa Cruz: Blue Press, 2013) *''On Time: Poems 2005–2014'' (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2015). *''Amsterdam Souvenirs'' (Santa Cruz: Blue Press, 2016). With Bill Berkson *''There You Are: Interviews, Journals, and Ephemera'' (Seattle: Wave Books, 2017).


Notes


See also

*
Bolinas, California Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line dis ...


References

*Stirling, Isabel. "Zen Pioneer: The Life & Works of Ruth Fuller Sasaki" (2006) Shoemaker & Hoard.


External links


Joanne Kyger at the EPC
essay by Linda Russo at ''Jacket Magazine'' website *
"Add-Verse" a poetry-photo-video project Joanne Kyger participated in
MSS 0730
Special Collections & Archives
UC San Diego Library.

MSS 0008
Special Collections & Archives
UC San Diego Library.

Link to her masterpiece Descartes made in The National Center for Experiments in Television (NCET) in 68 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kyger, Joanne 1934 births 2017 deaths Beat Generation writers Modernist women writers American Zen Buddhists American women poets Modernist writers PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners 21st-century American women Writers from Vallejo, California Writers from Santa Barbara, California People from Bolinas, California Writers from Marin County, California 20th-century American Buddhists 21st-century American Buddhists