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Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928)

Aleta George brings to life Ina Coolbrith’s Bittersweet Song

By Jannie Dresser

SF Poetry Examiner
8 March 2010

Aleta George of Suisun City does not consider herself a poet, yet the life and personality of California’s first poet laureate, Ina Donna Coolbrith, has captured her imagination. The subject of George’s interest is relatively unknown even to most modern poets–that puts Coolbrith into an even smaller minority of unknowns: if poets haven’t maintained her memory, who will?

Biographer George is trying to change this. “Coolbrith has been condensed into footnotes over the years,” she says, adding, “I want to dust her off, bring her story to light by following her path as an artist. She should be celebrated as one of America’s most important pioneer poets.” George’s work-in-progress, Bittersweet Song, is a historical narrative describing Coolbrith’s struggles and triumphs as an artist whose life span stretches from ante-Bellum America to the eve of the Great Depression.

© 2010 SF Examiner/Jannie Dresser

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