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Big Enough for Words

Poems and vintage photographs from California’s Central Coast

Index

George Yatchisin, Co-EditorEditors’ Introduction: On Poets and Photos
Ronald A. AlexanderLiving on a Fault
Gudrun BortmanRafaela Medran
Laure-Anne BosselaarCouple at Dawn on East Beach
Steve BraffBallad of the Delphy
M. L. BrownCarpinteria Fordhook Lima Bean
Hay Rake
Christopher BuckleyThe Church of Mt. Carmel
Susan ChiavelliPentimento
Fran DavisHotel Californian
The Lagoon
Marsha de la OHorses Resting, 1909
The Boy Who Went Looking
Mary FreericksBird Refuge
Friday GretchenCarnations, Incantations & Reincarnations
Linda HollandThe Keeper
Ibrahim Ibn SalmaSerenity in Santa Barbara
Perie LongoBells of Our Lady of Sorrows Church 1980
Delia MoonCattle and Cowboys Heading Away
Christine PenkoPale Fiesta
Briana PetersonCarpinteria Grapevine
Century Plant
Peg QuinnGirl on a Donkey
Undated Letter to Edson Smith
Diana RaabBeing a Monk on Big Sur for a Month
Barbara ReedA Haiku
Fernando Albert SalinasDolores, Lady of Sorrows
David StarkeyCuyama Branch Public Library, c. 1915
Man with Briefcase, 1962
Lani SteeleNeither Here nor There
Patti SullivanMoods and Melodies
Phil TaggartThe Great White Fleet and the Battle of Flowers
Rick ThomasArroyo Burro Beach
Emma TrellesGuise
I tell you yet again
Jace TurnerHaiku
Haiku
Paul WillisArroyo Burro Beach, ca. 1900
Children Reading Books, ca. 1930
George Yatchisin“It Is Impossible to Defeat an Ignorant Man in an Argument”
Reasonable Use
Chryss YostThe Young Campesinos

The Project

Big Enough for Words is an online anthology of poems by Central California poets, written in response to images in the Edson Smith Photograph collection, edited by David Starkey, George Yatchisin and Chryss Yost and published by Gunpowder Press in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Public Library.

The poets in this collection are residents (or were at the time) of the Santa Barbara, Ventura, or San Luis Obispo county. All poems are used with the permission of the poets. Please be sure to credit the poet when sharing these poems.

The Images

The Edson Smith Photograph collection contains nearly 1,500 early images of Santa Barbara County dating from the 1870s-1940s, many of which were collected by Santa Barbara native, and long-time resident, Edson A. Smith (1877-1947). The photographs capture historic buildings, adobes, houses, views of State Street, cultural landmarks, local dignitaries, and many events including early Fiesta parades, the arrival of the first Southern Pacific train in Santa Barbara in 1887, and the Santa Barbara Earthquake on June 29, 1925. Over 300 of the 1,500 images are online to view now; more coming soon.

Gunpowder Press

Gunpowder Press is honored to publish this collection in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Public Library. Gunpowder Press is a small independent press based in Santa Barbara, California.

Published by David Starkey and co-edited by David Starkey and Chryss Yost, Gunpowder Press is named to honor our city's Barbara of Nicomedia, who was believed to be the patron saint of gunpowder.

Copyright © 2021 Gunpowder Press. All poems used with permission of the poets.