This Kind of Bird Flies Backward

The title of this exhibition is from Diane di Prima's 1958 book of poetry This Kind of Bird Flies Backward, which was also a line from her poem "The Window." Di Prima came to prominence in the 1950s as a Beat poet in both New York and San Francisco. The Beat movement was dominated by male poets and artists, yet just as Joan Brown did in her paintings, di Prima focused her writing on subjects stereotypically associated with women – for example, their personal lives and relationships. Di Prima is the author of over forty-four books and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She is currently Poet Laureate of San Francisco.