In the sixth publication in the City Lights Spotlight Poetry Series, Cajun poet Micah Ballard's Waifs and Strays recombines the allure, fixations, and diction of the metaphysical poets with the alert and streetwise urban fracturing and amazements instantaneous in contemporary San Francisco. With the haunted elegance of Charles Baudelaire and the handmade warmth of Semina, Waifs and Strays is a rejection of a slick and disposable culture. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Micah Ballard studied at New College of California, working with David Meltzer, Joanne Kyger, and Tom Clark. He currently co-directs the MFA in writing program at University of San Francisco. He co-edits Auguste Press.