INTRODUCTION

When I first moved to the Monterey Bay area in 1971, I got hit with lots of local mythology. The town I inhabited, Pacific Grove (a former Methodist "retreat" once protected from the world at large by a padlocked gate), was laughed at, mocked, by Steinbeck's characters from their hip holier-than-thou sanctuary, Cannery Row. Carmel was a "fallen" former artistic haven, rendered graceless through tourism; and Santa Cruz, far across the Bay (forty some miles by land, twenty some by sea) was locked in a time warp, inhabited by neo-Hippies who refused to acknowledge that their days in the sun (and nights) were long gone, over. "Days in the sun" fit the folks who lived there in other ways, for historically, Santa Cruz was said to be "blue collar," as evidenced by working class T-shirt tans, whereas people on my side of the Bay once had no tan at all, spending their time luxuriating in the shade of havens such as the Del Monte Hotel, safe beneath their money and their parasols.

      I soon learned that, as Robert Graves has said about mythology in general (it is "the study of whatever religious or heroic legends are so foreign to a student's experience that he cannot believe them to be true"), such views were in- or non-credible, yet each time I visited Santa Cruz, I'll confess I found myself confronted by a decidedly neo-Sixties ambiance --- a city that also just happened to have a major university on its fringe. The first writers I met from the area (Morton Marcus, Jim Houston, Anita Wilkins, Ellen Bass) I met in Los Altos, at the Foothill Writers Conference. I became friends with Robert Sward through Ray Mongo's Writers Jamborees, on this side of the Bay.

      In the belief that it is not atypical, in terms of interaction or "exchange" for writers on either shore at that time, I would like to provide a further portion of personal history. I spent some sweet nights reading my poetry at Sweet Williams at Night, Zachary's, and the Santa Cruz Arts Center, and I spent one delightful evening playing piano and singing poems I'd set to music at the Louden Nelson Community Center, but such activity --- or contact --- was intermittent, as it seemed to be for Santa Cruz poets visiting this side of the Bay, reading at the Thunderbird Bookstore, Monterey Peninsula College, or Barbara Murphy's Portofino Cafˇ. The National Writers Union commenced a reading series that matched local poets with those from Santa Cruz. I managed to make a few trips "abroad" to read on Mort Marcus' KUSP Poetry Show, just as Santa Cruz poets read here on KAZU. David Gitin and Taft Miller put together a great weekend ("A Communion of Poets") at Hartnell College. More recently, Susana Wessling, publisher/editor at Chatoyant in Aptos, decided to print a book of my poems (Some Grand Dust), and I recall a serious discussion with Joseph McNeilly and Len Anderson (whose excellent, and heroic, efforts in behalf of Poetry Santa Cruz must be acknowledged) regarding the possibility of a Summit Meeting of poets to be held, literally halfway, in Moss Landing. But that event never came to pass.

      Enter Ryan Masters. If not exactly a "savior" who reconciled discordant elements, or the poets of our respective areas, he did provide an actual day (and night) long festival, at the Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove ("Butterfly Town, USA": were Steinbeck's characters still laughing?), an event that found writers from both sides of the Bay not only reading together but chatting, confiding, commiserating quite openly. We could now just "hang" together, as they say in the jazz world, and the fusion of common interest, intent, and consciousness was on. There had been precedents: Ken Weisner's excellent anthology, Quarry West: Poets and Writers of the Monterey Bay, and the Poetry Santa Cruz Monterey Bay Poets Against the War reading at the Rio Theatre, where George Lober, Patrice Vecchione, Elliot Ruchowitz-Roberts and I, from the Monterey area, shared the first "set," introduced by Dennis Morton, with Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly, County Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt, Charles Atkinson and Ekua Omosupe.

      However, Ryan Masters is persistent and, now, he's done it again, not only presenting another, the 2nd Annual Monterey Bay Poetry Festival in Pacific Grove, but providing this, The Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets, as well: a compilation that contains the work of nearly 100 poets --- a book more than likely destined to become a classic someday, in the vein of the 13^th Century Japanese classic, Hyaku-nin-isshu ("Single Verses by a Hundred People").

       I recall attending, in Berkeley in 1960, a lecture by the fine British poet Stephen Spender, a talk in which, discussing poetry from England and the United States, he --- jokingly, I think; or perhaps not --- referred to "our more or less mutual language." Just for kicks, thinking of a way to approach this Introduction, I undertook a two month "study" of Metro Santa Cruz and Coast Weekly, hoping to discover how much people, not just poets, on this side of the Bay and Santa Cruz may have in common, or even how they might stack up beside their respective mythologies. The results were as unpredictable, diverse, intriguing as the poetry Ryan has assembled for this anthology will prove to be.

      In November, from the more "touristy" shore of the Bay, Coast Weekly featured an article entitled "New Veterans Face Hard Challenges," and one called "A Fight on the Heights" (on the lack of low-income housing in Marina), whereas Metro, from which you might expect heightened political consciousness, focused on the "arts" ("Ansel Adams & Me," a feature piece on local photographer, 98-year-old Seema Weatherwax). In the same month, Metro featured "Fall Fashion: Santa Cruz's New Foot Fetish" (on "hip footwear"), while Coast Weekly concentrated on Sudden Oak Death ("A Nature Murder Mystery"). A December Metro presented "Om for the Holidays: ("our annual gift guide"), whereas fun-loving politically obsessed Coast Weekly wrote about "Fat: A National Security Threat." In late December, Metro did acknowledge "No Yield: Why the bitter divide over widening Highway 1 is only going to get worse," and celebrated getting its "Biggest Party Back" (its "beloved First Night Celebration"), while Coast Weekly preoccupied itself with "Old Timers' Holidays: Local senior citizens remember Christmas past," and treated readers to the results of its annual 101 Word Short Story Contest. So much for stereotypes.

      Fortunately, this admittedly somewhat playful account of life and poetry on opposite shores fails to tell the whole story. The true and total picture is far more expansive, more comprehensive, inclusive, and houses the excellent, dedicated poets of Watsonville; the rich legacy of writers affiliated with Cabrillo College; and now California State University-Monterey Bay, with its commitment to social action. It includes writers working "above" the city across the Bay (literally, in the Santa Cruz Mountains); in Scotts Valley, Corralitos, Felton; or on the "outskirts" of Monterey: Carmel Valley, Cachaqua, Palo Colorado Canyon or, for all we know (some yet undiscovered soul in), Tassajara Hot Springs.

      You are about to enter a world in which people have one wonderful thing in common: poetry --- and not just that but perhaps even "religion" in its best, most elemental sense: "religere" (in the words of Salomon Reinach: the antithesis of negligere; in short, "a vigilant care ... as opposed to indifference or negligence"). And I think you will find that these poets care about everything (including you!). You will find themes that range from stark agrarian and urban concerns (such as economic disparity and outright exploitation); ethnic, racial, and gender identity; the ocean, the weather, fish and foul we often feel we might easily "turn and live with"; tourists we could sometimes live without; youth and aging; death; and the nature of poetry itself. The range of interests and concerns and insights and loves and --- dare I say it? --- a sense of just plain "fun" or humor is extraordinary, "splendiferous" --- as it should be. You will find many familiar friends here (Adrienne Rich, Tilly Washburn Shaw, David Swanger, Ric Masten, Bert Glick, Maude Meehan, etc. --- to cite just a few names at random; I'm not playing favorites!) and you will find fresh faces, or voices (Kathryn Petruccelli, Maria Garcia Tabor, George Lober, Akahsa Gloria Hull, JP Dancing Bear, Frances Payne Adler, George Donald, Jeff Tagami, etc.). You will find all the variety and surprise and hard won wisdom and delight that poetry can offer, provided by poets who, no matter which side of the Bay they live on, are truly together, who speak in a language that is no longer "more or less mutual" but One (rich with all the diversity that the One can provide).

      Now all we need is an actual (20 some miles long) bridge --- the "steeled Cognizance whose leap commits/The agile precincts of the lark's return" that Hart Crane wrote about --- in order to seal the friendship, to make this unique form of fellowship (both sacred and delightfully profane) even more frequent, accessible, enjoyable, prevalent. In the meantime, thanks to Ryan Masters, we have this fine anthology.

   William Minor

• To revisit the Anthology of Monterey Bay Poets webpage and order the book, press here.