Kathleen Fraser, poet, editor, essayist and professor of writing at San Francisco State University, died February 5. In a tribute, Nightboat Books, publisher of her titles movable TYYPE and the forthcoming Collected Poems, observed: "Known for her remarkable body of work--encompassing more than a dozen collections of poetry, seven collaborative artist's books, a volume of essays, and her landmark editorial work championing women writers--Kathleen Fraser made a unique, unparalleled contribution to American literature. She saw her work as 'making textures and structures of poetry in the tentative region of the untried.' "
Her books include What I Want; il cuore: the heart, Selected Poems, 1970-1995; Something (even human voices) in the foreground, a lake; New Shoes; and Discrete Categories Forced into Coupling.
Fraser absorbed aspects of the various schools of poetry but never wanted to be pigeonholed, Nightboat Books publisher Stephen Motika told the San Francisco Chronicle. "She was ageless, and so disinterested in being staid or settled. She was restless as a writer and thinker.... She had an amazing ear. She was a great lyric poet. She had poetry in her. She is a little hard to contain because her career is so varied. There are so many different modes. That is rare in American poetry."
Susan Gevirtz, a poet who is co-editing the final poetry collection with Motika, said Fraser was "just extremely grateful to us for taking the project on.... The most exciting thing about working on the collection is discovering work we had no idea existed."
Small Press Distribution wrote: "It is with great sadness that SPD heard about the recent parting of local poet, teacher and friend of SPD, Kathleen Fraser, whose work and teaching meant so much to so many. The Bay Area poetry scene has flourished in no small part because of her hard work."