Aideed Medina, Fresno’s new poet laureate, flies high with her latest honor as she writes for the ‘streets and the pueblo’

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“Through her work, she pays homage to the labor and sacrifices of farmworkers while giving voice to their enduring spirit and contributions to our community,” said California State Sen. Anna Caballero, who nominated Medina for the post.

Poet laureate is an honorary title given to an individual in a particular city, state, or nation. A committee reviews nominations and evaluates them according to the guidelines established by a City Council resolution.

Medina is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. With published works like “31 Hummingbirds: A Suite of Poems” and “Segmented Bodies,” she has been featured in Club Austral Literary magazine and The Chicano Writers and Artists Association Journal.

Her poetry captures nature engulfing humanity, said Bryan Medina (no relation), the poet’s closest friend. Medina deemed “Yokuts Land, for Fresno, I sing,” to be for the people. The poem captures Fresno City’s diversity of ethnicities, ages, and professions.

“My heart does not belong to the halls of power; it belongs to the streets and the pueblo (people),” she said. 

Marie Butcher, another friend of Medina, has known her for five years. She described Medina as a person composed of a seamless blend of emotion and intellect. When Butcher heard the news of Medina being appointed, it brought tears to her eyes, she said.

“She is one of my favorite people on the planet,” Butcher added.

Still another friend, Janice Rocke, said she believes that Fresno made the right choice. She described Medina as a passionate and gracious individual. Rocke believes that honoring people is important, and once someone is given this title [poet laureate], it is their responsibility to give back.

“Fresno is really going to benefit from her gifts and talents,” Rocke added.

As Fresno’s newest poet laureate, Medina feels elevated, she said. The position requires her to participate in four official city events in two years. She is also mandated to work with local schools to further the art of poetry in the city.

When a community enhances the arts, it fosters people with elevated consciousness, explained the poet. Fresno is a city that harbors unity, she said

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Fresno is made fun of; it is not Los Angeles, Hollywood, or a city that anyone thinks of when they think of California, Medina said. However, the city’s greatness does not lie in its location. It relies on the strength of the people.  Even without the glamour, Fresno demonstrates that it is a city that creates beauty.

“It is not the buildings or the billion-dollar complexes; it’s the people that we put our value on,” she added.

Medina harbors immense respect for all the previous laureates. She knows most of them personally. They all have left a legacy, she said. For example, Bryan Medina has granted opportunities to individuals with no academic background. Most importantly, he has cultivated a culture of poets for over 20 years, making the city of Fresno more vibrant, she said.

“That is the biggest thing that any of the laureates have done,” Aideed Medina added.

Bryan met Aideed at a slam poetry competition. Her presence was mesmerizing and down-to-earth, he said. Bryan knew that he needed to keep Aideed around. “Both my wife and I consider her like family,” he said.

Aideed Medina fell in love with the sound of words by the first month of kindergarten at Sanborn Elementary School (currently named Jesse G. Sánchez Elementary School). She was fond of language when she began to understand it. Medina liked the letter a, liking the way it looped.

Medina’s second-grade teacher was racist, she said. She was a sad and ignorant woman, she added. At this time, Medina was taking English lessons at the third-grade level. One day, when the teacher found Medina’s poetry book, she wrote one of the poems on the whiteboard and encouraged the kids to laugh at her.

“She told me: ‘You are nothing special because you can read or write. You are just a little Mexican girl,” Medina said.

Seven-year-old Medina did not know what prejudice was or that the teacher was wrong, so she never told her parents.

The Fresno Arts Council announced Medina’s appointment as poet laureate on Facebook.

In fourth grade, Medina entered a poetry contest at school. Later, she was accused of plagiarism. “There was no way that the daughter of farmworkers could outwrite the poem that they [the other kids] did,” Medina said. She no longer felt safe to expose her writing.

As a high school senior, Medina hoped to major in English at a community college, but after speaking with her high school adviser, she changed her mind. The teacher asked if she was considering majoring in English or History because she was Chicana.  “No, actually, sir, I am majoring in biology,” she told him.

She attended Fresno State but wasn’t able to finish. Medina attributed depression to being the cause; it triggered a cycle of depression that remains.

Meanwhile, she overcame her fear of writing in college. Medina’s friends “forced” her to submit her work to the Chicano Writers and Arts Association Journal, where she was published for the first time. “I am a poet; I was born this way,” she said.

For Medina, writing poetry is a spiritual process. She emotionally connects with the physical space she inhabits.

“She is about life, the changing winds or tides, the colors of the land, and everything about the earth,” Bryan Medina said.

A feeling of connection might be triggered, and then a poem manifests, she explained. Her poetry is a natural response to the world and nature surrounding her. “It is a gift [the poem] to the universe,” she said.

Medina observed the hummingbirds at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum after seeing an article about a white hummingbird. (She was part of the UC California Naturalist Certificate program there.) She was not the only one. Photographers from all over the world wanted to see the bird, she said. When Medina saw the white wings fluttering by, she did not want to breathe. She followed the bird with caution, afraid of scaring it. Then she took a picture. She spent the rest of the day watching it from afar. That is the story behind Medina’s debut publication, “31 Hummingbird: A Suite of Poems,” she said.

Medina finished the interview by sharing three tips for aspiring poets. First, do not be afraid to share your work by surrounding yourself with other writers. Then, allow others to criticize your work.

“Poetry is not a solitary thing,” she said. “Listen to what people have to say.”