Against the backdrop of a tumultuous world, prominent Fresno poets will ‘Rise Up’ to make their voices heard

By Doug Hoagland

Aideed Medina wrote a prayer to herself about a world where the president of the United States threatens to annihilate Iran’s civilization. The prayer is a poem that Medina will share this week at a gathering of distinguished Fresno poets.

“I wrote it to pull myself out of despair for fear of death and the end of the ideals I have naively believed we strived for as a country,” said Medina, Fresno’s current poet laureate.

She and four other poets will read from their collections beginning at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14, at the downtown Fresno Arts Council, 1245 Van Ness. Admission is free.

The gathering is called “Fresno Poets Rise Up” – a live protest poetry reading.

“Poets look at the truth and don’t flinch,” said Megan Anderson Bohigian, Fresno’s Poet Laureate from 2021-23.“They don’t ‘spin’ or rationalize or amplify. They aren’t parrots fed a party line. In all ways they strive to tell the truth, to name things. Each poet will be reading the poems that chose them in this moment in time.”

Bohigian will introduce the five poets, who are in alphabetical order:

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• Marisol Baca
• Glen Delpit
• Corrinne Clegg Hales
• Lee Herrick
• Aideed Medina

Delpit said he believes all citizens – including poets, songwriters and artists – have a duty “to speak out and resist the rise of fascism that is overtaking our country.”

One of the pieces that Delpit plans to read is entitled “the fruit stands are closed.” Here’s an excerpt:

today was the day all the
house cleaners stayed home.
tomorrow the gardeners won’t
arrive in the morning.
they’re choosing their time
carefully now. who can blame them.
(the house cleaners say, you never know when)
the people in line at the mexican
mercado look worried and scared
half out of their minds.
they check the parking lot
before they leave. even under their cars.
even the cashier looks nervous these days.
(they’ve got Minneapolis on the mind)

Meanwhile, Medina said of “Fresno Poets Rise Up”: “Not everyone can show up to march or protest, but they can gather to hear messages of hope and resistance at a poetry reading.”

Stating that the rights of her community are central to her poetry, Medina said she plans to share a piece entitled “A Poem for All of Us,” written in the context of annihilationanniliation threats against Iran. Here’s an excerpt from Medina’s poem:

We need hope.
We need an end
to state-imposed
starvation,
law-abiding
death strikes,
and death camps,
centers for despair,
decorated
with the trappings
of classrooms and
payouts
for warehoused bodies.

April 2026 is the 30th anniversary of National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world, said Andrea Mele, interim executive director at the Fresno Arts Council. “Please join us Tuesday evening to affirm and amplify the value of art and poetry to reflect, enrich, and challenge our beliefs, experiences, and actions,” she said.

Fresno has a rich tradition of recognized poets. Bohigian said Fresno is the only American city to produce two U.S. Poet Laureates: the late Philip Levine and Juan Felipe Herrera. In addition, Herrera and Herrick each served as California’s Poet Laureate and Fresno area resident Margarita Engle was the U.S. Young People’s Poet Laureate. (A poet laureate is appointed by a government or organization to promote poetry, literature, and literacy.)

At the “Poets Rise Up” event, Bohigian will read two short letters – one from a friend in Minneapolis, who experienced the recent immigration crackdown there, and the other from writer and former Fresnan Steve Yarbrough. Both will address the state of the nation.

Bohigian writes in almost poetic terms about the forces that shape poetry and poetry’s impact. “Haven’t you ever felt so strongly, seen so clearly, heard so closely, that you felt your words well up inside you?” She added: “Poems live larger than the space their lines occupy on the page.”

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