Fog and Light: San Francisco through the Eyes of the Poets Who Live Here

For all of us who have loved the “City by the Bay” for a long time, this book of poetry will capture the feeling of that special place. It is a slim volume, but well worth the price and perusal. The poem on page 53 by Joseph Di Prisco, “The Bar at the End of Some Road,” alone makes this volume indispensable. Jodi Hottel’s “Shikata Ga Nai” is another classic poem. The title of the poem translates as “It can’t be helped.” The thing that can’t be helped is the forced migration of Japanese Americans into stables during World War II.

Of course, this book being about San Francisco, there are also poems about the homeless. Notable among them is “Edge of Night,” which is a beautiful observation of the unseen poor of the city. The Albion Hotel is “where angels honeycomb the walls with dreams” in the poem by Alejandro Murguia, “16th and Valencia.” In an upscale switch, “Sitting Above the Orchestra” takes us to the staple of the city, the San Francisco Symphony. All in all, it is wonderful book about the city that is impossible not to love.