Song of Six Rivers

Song of Six Rivers is an epic poem memorializing the Humboldt Bay/Six Rivers region of northern California. Taking a bioregional approach to the geography and history of the Humboldt environs, the poem addresses why we are here on earth as human beings and, more personally, addresses the author’s own journey as a poet and teacher of poetry. In the poem, Zev’s friend Guy Kuttner, an educator and activist who passed away in 2011, speaks to the author from the beyond, instructing him to sing of the land where they worked and spent time together. As the poem explores mortality, it also confronts the death of Zev’s father who passed away when Zev was fourteen; he was a professor, cantor, author, and community leader. Other characters appear as well, contributing to the narrative and local color. While Jim Dodge and Jerry Martien are not mentioned by name, as Zev’s friends, colleagues, and mentors they appear—in the company of others—as the “old poets” who have inspired the author’s work and life. Jim was generous enough to work on this poem with the author.

Zev Levinson works with California Poets in the Schools, bringing poetry into classrooms and other sites. He has taught at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, is a Redwood Writing Project teacher-consultant and teacher-leader, and a founder and facilitator of the Lost Coast Writers Retreat. Zev holds degrees in creative writing, literature, and the teaching of writing from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; the University of California, Santa Cruz; and Humboldt State University.