A Poet Remembers

My stepfather Jim Thurber published two books of poetry before his death in 2017: Mountains in Flight (NY: Cassidy Bayou Books, 2011) and Zoo Chow (NY: Cassidy Bayou Books/Littoral Press, 2018). Before his death, he had been working on a memoir of his experiences in San Francisco in the early 60s. It starts out with his journey from Spokane, Washington to San Francisco when he was 19 years old. The book follows Jim Thurber's life from when he was a young boy aspiring to be a writer and poet. Two acquaintances encourage him to follow his dream from Spokane to SF State. His magnificent mind takes in everything he reads and experiences. He kept detailed journals that are his poetry in motion.The book contains descriptive accounts of San Francisco and the people Jim encountered and lived with. Many of these people were famous and are still famous today. Two of the places he lived were 1786 Golden Gate Avenue, referred in the story as the "Spaceship," and 1360 Fell Street. Allen Ginsberg also lived there for a time, along with other well-known writers of the era. The book is set in the so-called San Francisco Renaissance of poetry. It's very evocative of famous places, the times, and of course the hippie and drug culture. Jim writes about his part in the Berkeley Poetry Conference in 1965. He describes the Haight-Ashbury, North Beach and the Fillmore with a poet's vivid eye and engaging writing style. He describes the City as "being on fire." Poets, writers, artists and musicians were screaming their joy and their doom. Many of the Beat poets were there and openly receptive to young poets like Jim. He attended informal seminars in their homes, and meetings at bars and cafés. He hung out with Snyder, Whalen, Welch, Joanne Kyger, Rexroth, Duncan, Spicer, Blaser, McClure, Charlie Plymell, Ferlinghetti, and the elusive Bob Kaufmann, to name only a few. Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and others in Allen's entourage would also show up and stay each year at 1360 Fell Street where Jim was living. Jim and the other poets read anywhere and everywhere to large crowds. Jim was one of the 32 poets in the Poems Read in the Spirit of Peace & Gladness anthology published in 1966. He also co-founded Synapse magazine and was widely published in little magazines and anthologies.This era continues to fascinate readers of multiple generations; I believe Jim's insider's portrayal of San Francisco and its creative life in the decade from the end of the 50s to the end of the 60s will provide the reader with an insight only a poet can tell.