George Stanley (born in San Francisco in 1934) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

poet associated with the

San Francisco Renaissance The term San Francisco Renaissance is used as a global designation for a range of poetic activity centered on San Francisco, which brought it to prominence as a hub of the American poetry avant-garde in the 1950s. However, others (e.g., Alan Watts ...

in his early years. In 1971 he became a resident of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He has published many books of poetry, both in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and in Canada. One of his best-known poems is "Veracruz". ''A Tall, Serious Girl'' is his collection of selected poetry. In 2006 he won the

Shelley Memorial Award The Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need, and is ...

. Stanley considers T. S. Eliot,

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

, and

Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...

important influences on his poetry.
Web page titled "Don Precosky's Introduction,/ INTRODUCTION: North of What?" at the Harbour Publishing Web site, accessed December 17, 2006.

Life

Born and raised in

, Stanley was part of the

, which included poets such as

Jack Spicer Jack Spicer (January 30, 1925 – August 17, 1965) was an American poet often identified with the San Francisco Renaissance. In 2009, ''My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer'' won the American Book Award for poetry. H ...

, Robert Duncan and

Robin Blaser Robin Francis Blaser (May 18, 1925 – May 7, 2009) was an author and poet in both the United States and Canada. Personal background Born in Denver, Colorado, Blaser grew up in Idaho, and came to Berkeley, California, in 1944. There he met Jack ...

. Stanley grew up in the

Haight-Ashbury Haight-Ashbury () is a district of San Francisco, California, named for the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets. It is also called The Haight and The Upper Haight. The neighborhood is known as one of the main centers of the counterculture ...

district of San Francisco, attending St. Ignatius College Preparatory. His family was middle-class, Irish, and Catholic. In 1951, he attended the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

, but left it to enroll at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

a year later. In 1953, Stanley enlisted in the US Army, where he served until 1956. He then enrolled at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and remained there until 1957. It is then that he met Jack Spicer, who asked Stanley to join his ''Poetry as Magic'' workshop, which Spicer taught at

San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, and which included Robert Duncan,

Helen Adam Helen Adam (December 2, 1909 in Glasgow, Scotland – September 19, 1993 in New York City) was a Scottish poet, collagist and photographer who was part of a literary movement contemporaneous to the Beat Generation that occurred in San Francisc ...

James Broughton James Broughton (November 10, 1913 – May 17, 1999) was an American poet and poetic filmmaker. He was part of the San Francisco Renaissance, a precursor to the Beat poets. He was an early bard of the Radical Faeries, as well as a member of ...

, Joe Dunn, and

Jack Gilbert Jack Gilbert (February 18, 1925 – November 13, 2012) was an American poet. Gilbert was acquainted with Jack Spicer and Allen Ginsberg, both prominent figureheads of the Beat Movement, but is not considered a Beat Poet; he described himself as ...

. Stanley's poems started appearing in publications such as ''J'' (San Francisco, 1958-1959), ''Floating Bear'' (New York, 1960), and ''Open Space'' (San Francisco, 1964). His two chapbooks, ''Tête Rouge/Pony Express Riders'' and ''Flowers'', were published in 1963 and 1965 respectively. Stanley returned to formal education and received his bachelor's degree in 1969 and his master's degree in 1971, both from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. In 1971, Stanley moved to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, where he lived for five years, working on the underground newspaper ''The Grape''. New Star Books published his first full-length collection, ''You'', in 1974. In 1976 he moved to

Terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

in northern B.C., where he worked as an instructor in the English department at

Coast Mountain College Coast Mountain College (CMTN) is an accredited, publicly-funded post-secondary educational institution that serves the communities of British Columbia's northwest region. CMTN offers field schools, college access, trades, university credit, healt ...

, a position he held until 1991. In 1992 he moved back to Vancouver to teach at

Capilano College Capilano University (CapU) is a teaching-focused public university based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located on the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, with programming that also serves the Sea-to-Sky Corridor and the Sunshin ...

. During this period, Stanley published books and was active in Canadian politics, unions, and the alternative media, and served as a board member of the Capilano Press Society, publisher of

The Capilano Review ''The Capilano Review'' (''TCR'') is a Canadian tri-annual literary magazine located and published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh ...

. He also edited and contributed to the intergenerational Vancouver literary journal ''Tads'' (1996-2001), through which Stanley,

George Bowering George Harry Bowering, (born December 1, 1935) is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He was the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, and raised in the nearby town o ...

Jamie Reid Jamie Reid (born 16 January 1947 in London, United Kingdom) is an English artist and anarchist. Career His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, pa ...

, and Renee Rodin mentored younger writers such as Thea Bowering, Wayde Compton, Reg Johanson,

Ryan Knighton Ryan Knighton (born 19. September 19, 1972 in Langley) is a Canadian writer best known for writing about his blindness, in books such as ''Cockeyed: A Memoir'' and ''C'mon Papa – Dispatches from a dad in the dark''. He teaches English and creati ...

, Jason Le Heup, Chris Turnbull, and Karina Vernon. Stanley retired from

in 2003. He currently lives in Vancouver, where he continues to write poetry.

Books

* ''Flowers'' (White Rabbit Press, 1965) * ''Beyond Love'' (San Francisco: Dariel Press, 1968) * ''You (Poems 1957-67)'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 1974) * ''The Stick: Poems, 1969-73'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1974) * ''Opening Day'' (Fernie, BC: Oolichan Books, 1983) * ''Gentle Northern Summer'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 1995) * ''At Andy's'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2000) * ''A Tall, Serious Girl: Selected Poems 1957-2000'' (Jamestown, RI: Qua Books, 2003) * ''Vancouver: A Poem'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2008) * ''After Desire'' (Vancouver, New Star Books: 2013) * ''North of California St.: Selected Poems'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2014) * ''West Broadway'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2018)

Notes

External links

*

Interview, "It's Still Winter" at Web site of the English Department of the University of Northern British Columbia

Poems

"Veracruz"

Reviews

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, George 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets San Francisco State University alumni American emigrants to Canada Writers from San Francisco Writers from Vancouver Living people Canadian gay writers Canadian LGBT poets Capilano University faculty 1934 births 20th-century Canadian male writers