The poems we published this past year reflect the tumult of life—joy, pathos, and quiet moments—in California and the West. Take the first issue of 2025, Alta Journal 30, which features a tribute to the fleeting beauty of monarch butterflies, a meditation on the anguish (and satisfaction) of worrying about an aging parent suffering cognitive decline, and a fierce declaration of Chicana identity. Consider, too, the powerful mix of poems found in the subsequent three issues, ranging from two works about the stubborn resilience of Los Angeles in the aftermath of fires to a piece on circumambulating Mount Tamalpais to one describing a 1964 bus layover at the Los Angeles Public Library. While all of these nine poems are tremendous on their own, it’s our hope that when grouped together, they provide a stirring record of the past 12 months.
“ODE WITH DISTANT PRAIRIE AND MILKWEED,” BY TESS TAYLOR
In Alta’s Issue 30, we declared the monarch butterfly to be one of the seven wonders of California. We reached out to award-winning poet Tess Taylor to consider the awe we feel when glimpsing one of the magnificent winged insects.
“PECULIAR HOTEL,” BY DAVID L. ULIN
Alta contributing editor David L. Ulin wrote this poem shortly after moving his parents from their home in New York City to an assisted living facility close to him in Los Angeles. His work captures the pain—and the joy—of caring for them.
“IN EAST LOS I AM FOUND,” BY VIVA PADILLA
Viva Padilla puts the reader on notice by declaring “I am not a Chicana who dances / to the beat of Aztlan” to begin this poem. She continues with two more fierce “I am not” statements before switching to affirmative, ambivalent, and exploratory tones. The result is a moving work that centers the narrator’s Chicana identity.
“WE ARE STILL ALIVE IN LOS ANGELES,” BY MIKE SONKSEN
Following the January 2025 wildfires, L.A. poet Mike Sonksen wrote this defiant verse celebrating the resilience and coming together of people across the city. It’s a strong poem, full of vigor, demanding to be read aloud. “We are still alive in Los Angeles!”
“THE CONSECRATION OF MT. TAM,” BY JUDY HALEBSKY
In 1965, Beat poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Allen Ginsberg drew upon Buddhist and Hindu traditions to chart a walking course around Mount Tamalpais in Marin County. Some 60 years later, Judy Halebsky walked the same route and considered how her journey—as a woman, as a mother, as a poet—enlarged the originators’ aims.
“PASSAGES,” BY CATHERINE THEIS
“Even before the horrible fires of January 2025, my poems were threaded with ribbons of fire, hints of disaster,” writes Catherine Theis in her introduction to this poem. While contemplating the recent tragedy, she uses verse to place it within nature’s endless cycles of destruction and creation.
“AVERSION TRAINING,” BY SAGE MARSHALL
Dogs are called our best friends for the unconditional love they bring us (usually!). The care and instruction we provide them is, of course, part of the bargain. But not all dogs require the same levels of affection and training. Sage Marshall shows us how, in the case of a hunting dog, protecting them may require pain for both the canine and its human.
“POINT REYES,” BY MAW SHEIN WIN
Is our sense of hearing really the last of our five senses to go when we perish? Maw Shein Win weighs that possibility when reflecting on the final phone call she and her husband had with his mother the night before she died.
“POEM,” BY ARAM SAROYAN
In 1964, fresh off a cross-country bus from New York to L.A. while en route to San Francisco, Aram Saroyan decided to kill time by visiting the Los Angeles Public Library. There, reading poems by Robert Duncan, Saroyan sees that “a life of exaltation” is possible through poetry.
Blaise Zerega is Alta Journal's editorial director. His journalism has appeared in Conde Nast Portfolio (deputy editor and part of founding team), WIRED (managing editor), the New Yorker, Forbes, and other publications. Additionally, he was the editor of Red Herring magazine, once the bible of Silicon Valley. Throughout his career, he has helped lead teams small and large to numerous honors, including multiple National Magazine Awards. He attended the United States Military Academy and New York University and received a Michener Fellowship for fiction from the Texas Center for Writers.
