Phoenix is an awkward commingling of the ancient and the new. Its name pays tribute to the way it was developed, built over (and using) a centuries-old canal system developed by the Hohokam people, who either vanished or abandoned their settlement there. But a sense of history like this isn’t pervasive. Since 2000 its population has increased by 24%, making it now the fifth largest city in the United States and the largest state capital. The city’s “historical neighborhoods” typically date back to the 1940s and 1950s, but Phoenix isn’t a city of short memory; it was (and is) built by transplants and transients.

The Phoenix edition of LOCUSPOINT, edited by me, features new poems from

Aimée Baker
Sally Ball
Meghan Brinson
Jess Burnquist
Kristina Morgan
Sean Nevin

and translations from the Icelandic by Christopher Burawa.

Enjoy!

Up next: Sandra Beasley’s Washington, DC.