Fresno Poetry Issue: Volume 1

One of the best things about being a poetry editor is spotlighting writers and poems that haven’t necessarily gotten the attention they deserve. After all, it should come as no surprise that, despite all the great things happening in the poetry world today, poetry itself continues to enjoy a fairly small audience. That being said, it’s tough to argue that a city like Fresno isn’t receiving adequate recognition when it can lay claim to such venerated writers as Phil Levine, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Gary Soto.

In fact, readers of Atticus Review will no doubt remember our past spotlights on the brilliant work of two other Fresno poets, S. Bryan Medina and David Campos, as well as the equally-stunning Catherine Abbey Hodges (herself not a Fresno native, though she’s active in the local scene and resides just a little ways up the road). I’ve lived in this community for five years now and it never ceases to amaze me how, every few months, I hear about yet another writer of such bold, undeniable talent that seeing them at a local bar or coffee shop feels a lot like running into Mozart at a used CD store.

So this month, as we present a selection of poems by poets currently living in Fresno, we aren’t seeking to correct an imbalance; rather, we are celebrating the awesome talent, drive, and diversity that has put this thriving poetry community on the map, and ensured that it will continue to make pages turn and jaws drop for generations to come. And be advised that spotlighting all of Fresno’s talent in a single issue is like trying to explain the entirety of quantum mechanics in a haiku. So be on the lookout for Volume II, which is already in the works.

IN THIS VOLUME:

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Ordinary Animal
by Brynn Saito