# Falling & Rising In San Francisco & Berkeley & Getting Handcuffed - Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2026/09/05/falling-rising-in-san-francisco-berkeley-getting-handcuffed/ - Published: 2026-09-05T01:39:44+00:00 - Author: shuktara Rate this post **Author:** Michael Chacko Daniels[⌊A sample cover of the book: purple handloom sari with gold embossed nameplate and lettering for the title and author's name. The border of the sari lines the right hand margin of the cover.⌉](https://writersworkshopindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Falling-and-Rising.jpg) ** Illustrators:** Aaron Bass and Michael Chacko Daniels **Pages:** 134 **Year of Publication:** 2026 **Price:** ₹500 / $25 (USD) **ISBN: **978-81-995932-8-2 (9788199593282) _**About the Author**_ Michael Chacko Daniels lives and writes in San Francisco. He grew up in Bombay, where he attended St. Michael’s High School, Wilson College, and University of Bombay’s Department of Economics. He holds a Master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. His parents grew up in an ancient Syrian Christian community in the south Indian state of Kerala. In their middle years, they joined the Bombay Baptist Church out of conviction. His adventures in the United States include five years as a Volunteer In Service To America (VISTA); four as editor/publisher of the New River Free Press of Grand Rapids, Michigan; four as assistant editor in San Francisco at The Asia Foundation; and sixteen at Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living. He helped start the Jobs for Homeless Consortium of Alameda County in 1988 and to run it through mid-2004. He is a naturalized U. S. citizen. He has been writing for over five decades and this is the thirteenth book he has published with **Writers Workshop**, India. _**About the Illustrator**_ Aaron Bass is an artist who primarily works in printmaking media. He has a Master’s in Fine Art from the University of New Mexico and is a Tamarind-certified professional lithographer. His prints have been exhibited in Japan, China, South Korea, Mexico, the U.K., India, Germany, and Pakistan, as well as across the U.S. Animism and folktales inspire his works. He lives in New Mexico and teaches printmaking at the University of New Mexico. Each of his illustrations in this book was made with India ink and pen on plastic sheets, where the images were further manipulated with razor blades, chemical washes, and airbrush techniques. _**About the Book**_ > Michael Chacko Daniels is the quintessential traveler. His life and his poetry > move between worlds. His journey has carried him from his early years in Bombay, > steeped in the traditions of an ancient Syrian Christian community, to San Francisco, > the city he now calls home. >   > His traveler’s haibun is a confluence of those diverse influences. But it also > embraces the world. Starting at Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral on the outskirts of > the oldest Chinatown in the U.S., Daniels makes multiple leaps in time and places. > His mind wanders to Rome and Paris. Yet also to his own past as a young immigrant > from Bombay. The literary vehicle he chooses for his poetry is the haibun, perfected > by Matsuo Bashō a continent away, more than three centuries ago. All this makes > _Falling & Rising in San Francisco_ a powerful travel narrative. >   > The haibun has often been used by travelers to tell their stories. Daniels turns > to it as well. We join him as he walks down California Street, sits in Old Saint > Mary’s Cathedral, listens to Debussy, remembers earlier life in San Francisco, > and reemerges again into the city. Interspersed between each of these, Daniels > creates moments brought alive by sensory details, historical context, and personal > reflection. It is time that meanders and gives his poetry its reflective quality. >   > The poetic style interweaves prose with short verse. His poetry combines minimalist > stanzas, single-line phrases, and vertical kinetic poems. Even as the prose sets > the context, the poetry gives the haibun both its movement and melody. We are > left not just with poetry, but the lyricism of a song of the road. _Christina Rachel Khalil, in her foreword to the book_   _**Contents**_ One _Foreword / _12 _In his traveler’s haibun, Daniels moves effortlessly across worlds_ By Christina Rachel Khalil _Falling & Rising_ / 15 . . . _From Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral_ _To a Blue Heaven and Back_ _With Claude Debussy on_ _Sancta Caecilia’s Feast Day_ _Afterword _/ 81 _Vernon Dias’ Letter to the haibunist on_ _A Distilled Poetic Image_ Two _The Haibunist’s Non-literary Works_ / 83 _A Rising in Berkeley &_ _Getting Handcuffed_ [⌊Two scanned pages from the book.⌉⌊Two scanned pages from the book.⌉[                [⌊Two scanned pages from the book.⌉](https://writersworkshopindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Sample-page-scan-2.jpeg)   --- ## Book Buying Inquiry "*" indicates required fields Company This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. 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