Letter from the Editor
Welcome to San Francisco Peace and Hope 2025! Through poetry and art we continue our mission of peace. The anthology is a collection of local and international voices from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.
Don't miss the foreword by the late Al Young, the former California poet laureate. He was beloved and honored by many and will be tremendously missed. His legacy lives on with his poetry, and all that he gave to the world. He participated in SFPH events with his talks and we are forever grateful.
So many heartless happenings in the world, so much violence and political chaos. Throughout the centuries for thousands of years this cycle continues. The philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding." Here at San Francisco Peace and Hope, we believe that examining global change and celebrating the changeless aspects of life are both essential.
At San Francisco Peace and Hope we believe that the most important moment is now. How shall we use this moment in time? We need to choose carefully. Every word, every image, every action makes an impact for ourselves and the world. With a creative act there is always a new beginning, always a fresh hope when a poem or painting is created. We need wisdom, clarity and action.
Al Young states "Hope like peace, needs action to back it. Hope not only springs eternal; hope summers, hope winters, hope pictures, hope acts out, hope listens, hope dances, hope sings."
The political climate is one of the most unsettling in the history of our country. Politicians throw words around carelessly and dangerously. The fact is, words matter. Images matter. If anyone understands this, it is the poet and the artist. We need words and images that pave the way for evolution; words and images that can be part of history, that one hundred, two hundred, one thousand years into the future, people will look back on and be inspired.
These are words from Dr. Victor Frankl from his book Man's Search for Meaning, about his experiences at Auschwitz during World War II. "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
So, given all this constant change and turmoil, are peace and hope even possible? Evolution will ultimately tell the tale. Albert Einstein said, "Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions." The poets and artists in the anthology have together created a vision of peace and hope. My wish is that the poetry and artwork in this journal will help you through hard times and perhaps even offer a preview of what's to come. Thank you to all the talented contributors to San Francisco Peace and Hope for creating this vision…and possibility.
The Beginnings
September 11th, 2001, was personally devastating, as I had always thought of New York City as a home away from home. Since my father was in the military, my family moved constantly throughout the U.S. and abroad, but we always returned to visit relatives there, and even after I relocated to the Bay area, those strong links remained. I started blogging on September 12th as a way of connecting to New York and San Francisco, east and west, past and present — and, perhaps, through writing and art, making a small contribution toward improving the world situation.
The Bay area poets Kit Kennedy, Frances Spencer, Claire J. Baker, Ken Saffran, Mary Rudge, and Richard Angilly responded immediately to that challenge, and the Peace and Hope enterprise has grown and matured during the past decade, expanding to become an online and print publication informed by the idealism of the 1960s.
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to the late Al Young, who served as our advisor and featured at SFPH events, to Jeannie Motherwell who has been amazingly generous with her time and talents, to Philip Lewenthal for photographing all the events and readings, and to Kit Kennedy, who has brought in so many fine poets and serving as emcee at the San Francisco Peace and Hope Fests.
Elizabeth Hack
Editor