I met Susan Birkeland for the first time at a reading in North Beach Library. She arrived with an oxygen tank and wearing a breathing mask. Her head was bald from chemotherapy. She came to hear her friends. Someone asked her to read. Susan took off the mask and made her way slowly to the front. Yet when she turned around she was radiant and stunned the audience with her passionate recital. Shortly after, Susan passed away. I bought her chapbook, the Bruised Angels’ Almanac. One of the poems in the book, The Flashlights of Innocence, was my favorite. I share it often at readings and enjoy hearing it read by others.
Fred Schywek, a German poet, discovered Susan’s poetry on the internet through surfing for American poets. Fred and his friend Annmarie Sauer are organizers for the 2nd European Festival of Poetry and Hafenklänge, Havenklanken, Sounds of Harbor, a multi-lingual project of internet publishing. Annmarie contacted Nicole Savage of SF Hearts. She and Fred flew over to San Francisco and we met at the Paradiso recording studio. Ana Elsner, Bill Mercer, Jerry Ferraz, Nicole Savage and I took turns reading Susan’s poems. The finished product will be played at the poetry festival in Antwerp, Belgium, in September. Susan Birkeland, even with her body gone, her poetry lives on.
