Poetry

Journeys

The Disgruntled Traveler:
​An Experiential Quartet
by Thomas O. Davenport
four rhyming, sardonic poems that describe the poet’s frustrations with the vagaries of modern-day travel and modes of conveyance
The Odyssey
Traffic
Flight
Journeys to Nowhere
Journeying to a Better Place​
by Vivian Imperiale
a moving poem that shows us how, with bravery and persistence, we can cross borders and communicate with those stranded in the lonely world of schizophrenia
Rumi’s Yom Kippur
by Corey Weinstein
a spiritual poem about a caravan of castaways joined by a mysterious voice, asserting that light is the essence of us all
The Mississippi
by Charlene Anderson
a meditation on life along a slow-moving river, and a journey on the river we’re all embarked on that will at last “carry us . . . out into an endless sea.”
Leadville
by Steve Surryhne
a powerful, meditative poem seeking to create, out of the rubble of the desert, out of “the bones of the past, out of nothing, the poverty of utopia”​
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More Poetry

Paradise Lost, California​
by Charlene Anderson
an emotive poem that presents the unsettling idea that the burning of Paradise, California may intimate or presage a much greater loss​
Facing Truth
​by Rodney J. Shapiro
an insightful poem that takes us to the brink, and back again, as the narrator confronts aging and loss.​
Dignity of Trees
​by Heather Saunders Estes​
a poem that personifies the trees around us, helps us see these magnificent beings in a fresh, new way, and makes us think of our own cycle of life​
Lighting San Miguel​
by Kathryn Santana Goldman
a photo poem shows us how new surroundings and supportive colleagues can provide fresh insights into our lives, our writing, and our dreams​
Traveling to Me from Afar​
by Vivian Imperiale
an evocative poem that explores the possibility that we can continue to communicate with those who have passed on​
Alchemy
by Angie Minkin
a lively poem that reminds us that we have more in common than we imagine with people from other cultures who we encounter at rest stops on our journey down Highway 5​
Floating Fleeting Photon
by Joe Catalano
a brief poem that explores life and the universe from the miniscule to the magnificent—and back again.​
Fall into The Next
by ​Heather Saunders Estes
lost in a dream, trying to get home: we’ve all been there, and, in this moving poem, we feel the struggle to find balance​
🌉 Islais Creek​
by Elsa Fernandez
a moving poem about a creek in San Francisco, once sacred to Native Americans, now polluted, lifeless and filled with only “secrets and sadness”​
Album
by Polly Richards Babcock
an evocative poem that takes us through a photograph album of moments and memories, large and small, that define a life​
Executive Presence ​
by Kathryn Santana Goldman
who is this man, sitting on a doorstep with a rooster on his head? Learn more in this delightful haibun that captures the spirit and resilience of Havana​
The Symphony of Marital Discussion
by ​Richard Chackerian
an ironic poem that describes an ongoing “discussion” and provides a snapshot of the ups and downs of married life​
Chasing the Blood Moon​
by Elsa Fernandez
an entertaining poem that includes a mad but unsuccessful dash to find the Blood Moon, ending with a treat!​
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🌉 BAY AREA STEW SELECTION - A TASTE OF LIFE IN THE BAY AREA
Click or tap for an index of Bay Area Stew selections and Bay Area Modes of Transportation theme photography

​The Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual arts by members of OLLI at SF State.
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​The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University​ provides material support to the Vistas & Byways volunteer staff.