AMERARCANA: A Bird & Beckett Review
AMERARCANA is a serial publication (roughly annual) of poetry, creative & critical prose, other words & works of art gathered from the constituent pastings of our “grand collage” (to borrow a phrase from Robert Duncan), grounded in the San Francisco Bay Area, but reaching out wherever there be dragons.
Bird & Beckett also publishes the occasional small book. To date, the catalogue includes:
from Book of Kings, by Patrick James Dunagan (forthcoming Summer 2015) 44 pages, $7.50
Young, by Christina Fisher (2013), 24 pages, $4.00
Local News, by Jason Morris (2013) 32 pages, $5.00
Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Spades, by Jackson Meazle (2012) 20 pages, $4.00
Stances, by Erik Noonan (2012) 52 pages, $7.50
Scoria, by Nicholas James Whittington (2012) 20 pages, $4.00
Slough, by Nicholas James Whittington (2010)32 pages, $5.00
BIRD & BECKETT
Bird & Beckett Books & Records and the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (BBCLP) are a bookshop and non-profit arts organization, respectively, located in San Francisco’s often overlooked Glen Park neighborhood.
Since May 1999, the bookshop, named by founder Eric Whittington after the legendary Charlie Parker and Samuel Beckett, has celebrated the transgressive and progressive sound of language, music and their joint, song. In 2007 the BBCLP was formed to take over resposibility for the ever expanding slate of cultural programming at this small space and currently hosts two weekly concert series: Jazz in the Bookshop, featuring a revolving cast of local musicians from multiple generations every Friday evening without fail since 2002, and Which Way West? celebrating local incarnations of diverse musical traditions every Sunday evening; as well as the twice monthly POETS! series, which hosts featured readers and an open mic every first and third Monday night, several book groups, frequent author appearances and innumerable one-off presentations of theater, film, music and the literary arts.
Over the years Bird & Beckett has been honored to host such literary lights as the late Ted Joans (father of the phrase BIRD LIVES!), Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, David Meltzer, Barry Gifford, et al., such musical acts as Tango No. 9, the Crooked Jades, Riffat Sultana & Party, Jonathan Richman and many others, and such great artists as the late Bruce Conner.
AMERARCANA: A Bird & Beckett Review was undertaken on the occasion of the bookshop’s 10 year anniversary to further promote that transgressive and progressive note.
THE EDITOR
Nicholas James Whittington was born and raised in the City of San Francisco and currently resides in Oakland. He has also lived, worked and studied in Santa Cruz, San Diego and Siena, Italy. His poems have appeared in Ambush Review, Beatitude, Beloit Poetry Journal, Big Bell, Dusie, Felucca, Flying Fish, Greetings, HamsterRad, Illuminations, Marginalia, Oxalis, Ping Pong, Poems by Sunday, and Polis: Este Jardin, as well as in the chapbooks SLOUGH and SCORIA. He may be contacted through this blog, or via email at: AMERARCANA@gmail.com. He’s also like as not to be found in the flesh at Bird & Beckett Books any given day of the week.
amerarcana 
[…] San Francisco is home to many renowned independent bookstores, but Bird and Beckett’s focus on music and the community is particularly notable. Established about 10 years ago, this Glen Park bookstore solidified its commitment to local culture by founding the non-profit Cultural Legacy Project. The project seeks to “present, document and archive the creative work of significant living writers and musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area, for a neighborhood audience and future generations.” In addition to weekly jazz programs, the Cultural Legacy Project presents poetry readings at the bookshop and publishes a literary review called AMERARCANA. […]