{"id":6951,"date":"2026-06-13T13:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegorelocationnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/13\/spotlight-on-past-fresno-poet-laureate-what-he-says-about-the-capital-of-poets-2\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T13:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T13:01:20","slug":"spotlight-on-past-fresno-poet-laureate-what-he-says-about-the-capital-of-poets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegorelocationnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/13\/spotlight-on-past-fresno-poet-laureate-what-he-says-about-the-capital-of-poets-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on past Fresno poet laureate. What he says about the \u2018capital of poets\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joseph Rios sums up Fresno by quoting a poem, which seems right for a guy who is himself an award-winning writer and the city\u2019s former poet laureate. The quote, from Sesshu Foster\u2019s \u201cPostcard Fresno,\u201d is the tag line and central theme for an essay Rios had published this week at Z\u00f3calo Public Square.<\/p>\n

Read more Spotlight on past Fresno poet laureate. What he says about the \u2018capital of poets\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cHere I am in the capital of poets, here I am in Fresno.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Z\u00f3calo Public Square is a literary-minded non-profit journalism outlet, that, as the name suggests, seeks to engage the public conversation. The Los Angles-based organization does this \u201cin partnership with cultural institutions, public agencies, and community organizations to develop, curate, and produce high-quality public programs, editorial work, and multi-year series.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rios\u2019 essay is Z\u00f3calo is paying attention to the Central Valley. Its publication coincided with a forum Z\u00f3calo hosted Thursday night at Arte Am\u00e9ricas. That conversation focused on a region underoing change; a place \u201cwith steady population growth, reformed labor union legislation, the promise of California High-Speed Rail, and burgeoning arts and culture scenes,\u201d according to Z\u00f3calo\u2019s press on the event.<\/p>\n

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For Rios, the art and culture aren\u2019t so much burgeoning as hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n

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He paints the region as drive-by locale, a place people know of<\/i> but hardly know.<\/i> He makes metaphors of the oleander bushes growing along the highway and finds meaning in the climb over the Grapevine and into (or out of) Los Angeles. He quotes the mayor of Huron; \u201cFresno isn\u2019t in the middle of nowhere. It\u2019s in the middle of everywhere, carnal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rios also lays out Fresno\u2019s literary tradition; in Steinbeck\u2019s \u201cGrapes of Wrath\u201d and Kerouac\u2019s \u201cDharma Bums,\u201d but also Jos\u00e9 Montoya\u2019s \u201c20 Years of Joda\u201d and the short stories of Tom\u00e1s Rivera. That\u2019s not discounting the native sons and daughters name-dropped throughout the essay: William Saroyan and Philip Levine (Pulitzer Prize winners, both), journalist\/author Mark Arax and poets Brynn Saito and Sara Borjas.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFresno\u2019s literary landscape is not just the work of a singular person or poet,\u201d Rios writes, \u201cbut a culmination of generations of survival and the preservation of language and culture. And yet, we do not simply exist in the past. Some of our most celebrated writers are still alive, still working.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fresno poet laureates<\/h2>\n

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Rios grew up in the Central Valley. His mother was from Clovis; his father from Calwa. Rios attended Fresno City College for five years before transferring to UC Berkeley and eventually ending up in Los Angeles, where he wrote and released his first book of poetry, \u201cShadowboxing: Poems and Impersonations,\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n

Read more Meet the heroic state workers who rescued drowning victims, shielded kids from gunfire<\/a><\/p>\n

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Rios was Fresno\u2019s sixth Poet Laureate, appointed in 2023 and serving until last year, when the position was filled by Aideed Medina. Rios was proceeded by:<\/p>\n

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