FrancEyE aka Frances Dean Smith (March 19, 1922 – June 2, 2009), was an American poet.
Biography
Frances Dean Smith was born Frances Elizabeth Dean, in
San Rafael, California
San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...
, on March 19, 1922. During her childhood her family moved to the East Coast, where she grew up.
[
She married Wray Smith while living on the East Coast. They had four daughters but eventually divorced and Frances returned to California in 1963, leaving her children with her now ex-husband.][
She was closely associated with the ]Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
poetry community. She is also noted for her relationship with poet Charles Bukowski, with whom she had her fifth daughter and his only child, Marina Louise Bukowski.[ Charles Bukowski wrote a poem about Frances which has been used as a eulogy, "One for Old Snaggle-Tooth" (1977).
Throughout her long career as a writer she never sought to capitalize on her connection to Bukowski and was revered as “The Bearded Witch of Santa Monica.” She died from complications of a hip fracture in Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, California, early on June 2, 2009.]["FrancEyE dies at 87; prolific Santa Monica poet"]
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' Retrieved on June 3, 2009
Works
* ''Four Poets'', (Ruth Wire, Grace Bogart, Joanne Stell, S.S.Veri), written under the pseudonym S.S. Veri
* ''Snaggletooth in Ocean Park'', poems, 1996 (The Sacred Beverage Press)
* ''Amber Spider'', poems, 2004 (Pearl Press)
* ''Grandma Stories'', short stories (with drawings by Tim Donnelly), 2008
* ''Call'', poems, 2009 (Rose of Sharon Press)
Film appearances
* ''Bukowski: Born Into This'' (2003) Documentary on Charles Bukowski.
* ''Graffiti Verité'' 6: "The Odyssey: Poets Passion & Poetry" (2006)Graffiti Verité 6: The Odyssey (Video 2006) - IMDb
/ref>
References
External links
Review of ''Baby Grandma'' in the Santa Monica Mirror
Interviewed re: Bukowski in an LA Times article on Poets
FrancEyE Frances Dean Smith 1922-2009
francEyE - poems
{{Authority control
1922 births
2009 deaths
American women poets
Writers from San Rafael, California
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women writers
People from Greenbrae, California
21st-century American women