Swimmer Climbing onto Shore
“Fleming gifts us with a rare generosity, revealing the ‘extra’ in the so-called ‘ordinary’ experiences of travel, friendship, and family ties in our daily lives. In a voice of condensed, colloquial intimacy sobered by awareness of the world’s menace and acknowledging the irrational in himself, he reaches a high compassionate humor as he infuses his exploration with the surprising pleasure of sudden discovery. As he himself says, ‘It has to do with joy.’ ” —Jack Marshall, author of Gorgeous Chaos: New & Selected Poems, 1965-2001
Gerald Fleming’s poetry and prose poems have appeared in literary magazines over the past twenty-five years. He has won numerous awards and fellowships, and between 1995 and 2000 he edited and published the literary magazine Barnabe Mountain Review, whose archives were acquired by U.C. Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. He teaches full-time in the San Francisco public schools, and his third book for teachers, Rain, Steam, and Speed (Jossey-Bass/Wiley) appeared in fall 2004.
READ GERALD’S POEMS
Publication date: 2005
Video of Gerald reading at Petaluma Poetry Walk, Jungle Vibes, Sun. 9/18/11.
Gerald’s poem “Bone & Silence” is archived on the website poets.org of the Academy of American Poets.
Gerald’s poem “Long Marriage” was featured in American Life in Poetry, column 208.
