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Fiction & Poetry

alta journal, 2025 year in review, top fiction

Alta Journal ’s Fiction of 2025

Alta’s short stories, included in every issue, contain seemingly small moments that reveal larger truths about life.

alta journal, 2025 year in review, top poetry

Alta Journal ’s Poetry of 2025

victor juhasz, delilah, anita felicelli, illustration

Fiction: ‘Delilah’

water lilies (agapanthus), claude monet

Poetry: ‘Water Lilies’

a man sits on the rooftop of a sinking house in the middle of a vast blue lake, his body hunched in reflection. above, two eyes watch from the clouds.

Fiction: ‘Former Colleagues, Nothing More’

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illustration of karyn kupcinet

Fiction: ‘Cookie’

los angeles fires

Poetry: ‘We Are Still Alive in Los Angeles’

mt tam, marin county

‘The Consecration of Mt. Tam’

alta journal issue 31, fiction, short story, renaissance mt by bridget quinn

‘Renaissance, MT’

year in review, 2024, poetry

Alta Journal’s Poetry of 2024

year in review, 2024, fiction

Alta Journal’s Fiction of 2024

hotel building with palm tree and neon sign against a gradient sky, david ulin, poem, hotel peculiar

Poetry: ‘Peculiar Hotel’

once upon a time in the land of children, illustration, victor juhasz, jane vandenburgh

‘Once Upon a Time in the Land of Children’

volcanic eruption

Poetry: ‘In East Los I Am Found’

poetry background image

Poetry: ‘Teachings’

poetry background image

Poetry: ‘Trespass’

poetry background image

Poetry: ‘NDN Heartbreak Song’

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owl

Poetry: ‘Department of Quiet Phenomena’

taco truck

Poetry: ‘Taco Trucks, Every Corner’

wendy carmel, carmel wendy

Fiction: ‘Wendy Carmel, Carmel Wendy’

illustration, sylvia browning, fiction, chinese school

Fiction: ‘Chinese School’

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detail of light gray clouds on an overcast day, may gray, jia rui cook

Poetry: ‘May Gray’

yadi liu, tayi tibble, ocean memory

Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa: Ocean Memory

poem, luis j rodgiguez, eastside of all eastsides

Poetry: ‘The Eastside of All Eastsides’

draymond green, stephen curry, warriors

Poetry: ‘The Warriors. Never Count Them Out’

fiction, dagoberto gilb, prima

Fiction: ‘Prima’

moon, california villanelle, dean rader

Poetry: ‘California Villanelle’

1969 red chevrolet camaro, low front end grill, poem, cynthia cruz

‘Self-Portrait in Parked Red Camaro’

alta journal, year in review 2023, poetry

Alta Journal’s Poetry of 2023

mailman, fiction, illustration

Fiction: ‘The Mailman’

poem, hands, fourth day in san francisco

Poetry: ‘The Fourth Day in San Francisco’

poem, night sky, tayi tibble

Poetry: ‘Wayfinders’

magda’s hen illustration

Fiction: ‘Magda’s Hen’

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wwii soldiers

Poetry: ‘Yesterday’s Newsreel Was Chasing Me’

grapevines

New Poetry by Jane Hirshfield

breakdown in the right lane, illustration

Fiction: ‘Breakdown in the Right Lane’

bike crash

Poetry: ‘Supernova’

sunflowers

Poetry: ‘Sunflower Poem’

poetry

Alta Journal’s Top Poetry of 2022

peter orner, jimmy, victor juhasz

Fiction: ‘Jimmy’

bullets

Teach Your Children to Remain Small and Invisible

andres guardado

Poetry: ‘Qualifying Animacy’

best of american poetry 2022, james cagney, brenda hillman

Poems Included in The Best American Poetry 2022

marianne wiggins, lara porzak, properties of thirst

You Can’t Save What You Don’t Love

smoky forest

Poem: ‘Friend Poem’

margaret burbidge

Poetry: ‘Lady Stardust’

rain break sky

Poem: ‘Rain Break’

morning sky

Poem: ‘Echoes’

taro, karen tei yamashita, victor juhasz

New Fiction: ‘Taro’

san francisco in fog

Poem: ‘Fog Poem Number 71’

foggy hills

Poetry: ‘Friendship’

he dreams about the bunny ranch illustration

Fiction: ‘He Dreams About the Bunny Ranch’

night time sky

Poem: ‘Take to the Days a Fist of Starlight’

shadows of people holding hands

Poem: ‘Our Son Comes Over’

year in review, poetry

Alta Journal’s Top Poetry 2021

year in review, fiction

‘Alta Journal’ Fiction 2021

sleep nights

New Fiction: ‘Sleep Nights’

bees collect pollen from a sunflower on july 25, 2017 near bergheim, western germany afp photo dpa oliver berg germany out photo credit should read oliver bergdpaafp via getty images

Poem: ‘[chiasmus with all the other animals]’

poppies

Poem: ‘[trance poem with the gray stone]’

dandelion blowing seeds in the sky

Poem: ‘[to the voice of the age]’

larry eigner, joanne kyger

‘(Water/Places/A Time)’

oreo arroyo, vanessa hua

‘Oreo Arroyo’

andy warhol, last supper

‘Cancel Culture (The Bardo)’

ada limón

Poem: Calling Things What They Are

ada limón

Poem: The First Lesson