Insight 2nd Ed_Jack Foley

Jack W. Foley Writer, Editor-in-Chief, Radio Host Station KPFA-FM Oakland, CA www.jack-adellefoley.com Upon reading a poem by Thomas Gray at the age of 15, Mr. Foley felt encompassed and believed that he understood the poet on an intimate level. Fascinated by the beauty of language, he decided to become a professional poet who has been described as a passionate intellectual. In fact, his work has been compared to Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound and Charles Olson, with styles akin to post-structuralism. His live performances resemblevaudevillewithahint of tapdancing, blended with an all-inviting, individual yet multitudinous, and unique presentation. On numerous occasions, Mr. Foley presented his joint poetry with his wife Adelle prior to her passing in 2016, their pieces featuring simultaneous voices whose interrelationships reflected his belief that the mind is often contradictory. After Adelle’s death, Mr. Foley found a new love and performance partner in girlfriend Sangye Land, the daughter of poet Julie Rogers and stepdaughter of poet David Meltzer. Mr. Foley has published 17 books of poetry, five books of criticism, one book of stories, and a two-volume chrono-encyclopedia, “Visions & Affiliations: California Poetry 1940-2005.” He has served as a literary critic and the executive producer-in-charge of the poetry program on Station KPFA-FM in Berkeley for more than 30 years. Mr. Foley formerly served as editor-in-chief of Poetry USA in Oakland, California, for five years. In celebration of his achievements in poetry, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Berkeley Poetry Festival in 2010, and June 5, 2010, was designated as Jack Foley Day in Berkeley. How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? When I was young, my mother would tell me things that I realized were demonstrably untrue – things that she understood to be true – and she would tell me these things with great certainty. My mother was technically Catholic, but she never went to mass. I asked her about that and she explained that she didn’t go because she had nothing to wear. This made me think that something