Christopher Wachlin co-founded Stoneslide Media which publishes both Stoneslide Books and The Stoneslide Corrective. He is a long-time member of the San Francisco & Peninsula Writers, a branch of the California Writers Club, and served on the San Mateo County Poet Laureate Advisory Committee from 2013 to 2019. He lives with his wife on a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. He likes to hike when he can, stare at the sky, listen to music, and anything to do with writing.

Fego Navarro, Lyrical Opposition‘s Creative Director, is a Salvadorian American rapper/actor. Fego’s musical journey in hip-hop began in his teen years at church. After church services, he would get together with his friends and kick freestyle raps outside the temple. This developed into a passion for writing his own songs and attending local open mics to showcase his talent. In 2013, Fego was featured on a song titled “Them Days” by an artist named Common Folk Nate. It premiered on MTV U and Snoop Dogg also featured it on his online show “Underground Heat” where it was number #1 in 2013. One of Fego’s many talents cast him in a film titled “Sin Padre” directed by Jay Francisco Lopez. It went on to win the audience award for the San Francisco Latino Film Festival. Fego’s most recent projects include a music project titled “Heart of Man” which is available on all music platforms and streaming services. As well as promoting a second film “Love Cecy” which recently premiered at the New York Latino Film Festival presented by HBO.

Christian Bustos is the Founder and Executive Director of the Brisbane-based nonprofit Lyrical Opposition. He is a San Francisco State University alumnus where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Electronic Communication Arts with an Emphasis in Business. Within the arts community, he’s known as spoken word poet Cross Allan. He is also the Executive Producer for the documentary and short films for the Re-Entrification series.

James W. McLaughlin was a California poet whose work celebrated community, history, faith, and humor. A longtime resident of Belmont, he served as the city’s first Poet Laureate. He was also President of the Ina Coolbrith Circle and the California Writers Club, Peninsula Branch, and founded the annual Jack London Writers Conferences. His poems, articles, and children’s stories appeared in national magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul. His published poetry collections include Complete Guide to Governmental Insanity—With Rhyme and Reason, Poetry of the Golden State, The Poetry of Christmas, and Funny Side Up: Prime Time Rhyme. His poem “Belmont” was named the city’s official poem, and “The Part Most Blessed” was honored during San Mateo County’s 150th anniversary.

Lauren Merritt served as Poet Laureate of Valley Presbyterian Church of Portola Valley, California. He was a retired aerospace electrical engineer whose career began with earning both a BSEE and an MSE from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Over the course of his professional life, his designs quite literally reached beyond Earth, circling the planet, resting on the Moon, and traveling far beyond the orbit of Pluto. Before his career was cut short by the onset of Parkinson’s disease in 2004, he accumulated twelve patents and authored thirteen trade journal articles. In later years, Lauren published a book of poetry and devoted himself to writing poems and a weekly newsletter for Valley Presbyterian Church, where his faith, insight, and creativity inspired so many others.

Excerpt from “Moving On”

In the courtyard the wagons sit
Piled high with household wares
And little things
Each quite worthless by itself
But together describing
The essence of a family
Soon to be moving on.

A review of Lauren Merritt’s book, The Heart of An Engineer, is available at Foreword.

Tatiana Lyulkin is a Ukraine-born, New York-bred poet and playwright living in San Mateo County. She writes poetry in three languages (English, Russian, and Ukrainian) and has been published in many magazines. She also writes religious poetry.

Poem on Belonging

THE CITY OF DREAMS

Wake up,
Wake up and go home
To East Palo Alto—
A secret place
Within your heart
Where red roses bloom
In the middle of February.
There is no snow
In East Palo Alto
But when the rain comes,
It comes down hard.
“We need the rain,”
Aunt Laverne says
As she looks out of the window.
East Palo Alto
With its own sense of style,
Its own music,
Its own drama.
East Palo Alto
Is tough as nails
And protective and kind
At the same time.
It cracks jokes
When it feels like crying
And when it’s angry—
Run for cover!
The city of my dreams,
A place of pure magic,
East Palo Alto,
Where’re you at?

Copyright © 2019 by Tatiana Lyulkin. This poem originally appeared in Speak Poetry Vol. 1. Used with permission of the author.