The fourth volume of the San Francisco Poet Laureate Series, All That's Left is a powerful collection of poems for social justice, by street-poet-turned-laureate Jack Hirschman. The volume opens with Hirschman's autobiographical inaugural address—possibly the most substantive account of his life and work yet written—which vividly traces the development of his prolific career as a poet, translator, and political agitator. He details his involvement with the Communist Labor Party, the Jacques Roumain Cultural Brigade, and other radical organizations, in his lifelong struggle "to change not only the material conditions of mankind but, in so doing, to liberate that idea—that everyone is a poet—into human consciousness." Included within his address are several of Hirschman's key earlier poems, marking successive stages of his poetic development, as well as an excerpt from his 1,000-page masterpiece, The Arcanes. The poems that follow the address, mostly composed during Hirschman's tenure as laureate, cover contemporary outrages like post-Katrina New Orleans, the invasion of Iraq, and the Virginia Tech tragedy. He also pays homage to writers and artists who have influenced his work, from Jack Kerouac and Wallace Berman, to Paul Robeson and Bob Kaufman, to lesser known poetic comrades who have fought with Hirschman on the front lines of dissent. Finally, he includes a number of personal poems which explore the more intimate regions of romantic love. The result is a passionate and moving volume from one of America's most distinguished poets.
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