Buckley, Christopher and Gary Young, ed. THE GEOGRAPHY OF HOME: CALIFORNIA'S POETRY OF PLACE. Berkeley CA: Heyday Book, 1999.

An extensive anthology of contemporary poems, GEOGRAPHY focuses on California as the source for poetic inspiration. Not simply referring to the geographical definition of "place," GEOGRAPHY'S themes include social commentary, human and animal characters, spiritual myths, etc. Writers, not all necessarily published poets, range from social critics to naturalists, recent immigrants, professors and teachers, etc. All have insightful and heartfelt renderings on the depth and breadth of California, that land at the edge of the continent. Poets printed in this compendium include Gary Snyder, Robert Hass, Carolyn Kizer, Gary Soto, Dana Gioia, and Jane Hirshfield, among many others. An excellent volume for a high school or college classroom to be used for spontaneous readings and jumping-off points for free-writes. By Natosi, high school/college English instructor.