185 pages, Price $16.00
ISBN 978-09789597-2-2
If poets and lovers of poetry don't
write, publish, read, and purchase
poetry books then we will have
no say in the quality of our
contemporary culture and no
excuse for the abuses of language,
ideas, truth, beauty, and love
in our cultural life.
Poetic Matrix Press
Books
Chapbooks
Book Partners
Poetic Matrix Press Special Project
Available Now!
      The FM. Literary Anthology is a special project of Poetic Matrix Press done with the purpose of
celebrating the unique literary and artistic work of Madera High School students.  FM. Magazine, a
credited program, put out monthly over its 10 year history and under the tutelage of Darren Klassen
has given voice to a host of young people.  The ongoing support of the school and district  
administrations have given students a forum to express their concerns and explore their artistic
inclinations.  Madera is a small city in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California and not noted as
a center of literary activity, this Anthology proves otherwise.  

     Anyone can enjoy the unique and sometimes irreverent humor hence the subtitle "...10 years of
Literary Harassment."  Teachers will find support for their own program and can see the fruits of a
program that has a long and productive history.

     Poetic Matrix Press has taken, as one of its commitments, placing contemporary poetry into
youth programs, schools, and libraries.  We have donated 100s of books to a variety of programs in
Central California.  The FM. Literary Anthology project is another way to encourage the reading,
writing, and artistic work of young developing talent.  If teachers and administrators have questions
about our project please contact the publisher via email.   
Proceeds from the sale of FM. Literary Anthology
will be donated back to the FM. Magazine
program now at Madera South High School,
Madera California.
    Excerpts from faculty advisor Darren Klassen's introduction.

                  What does ‘FM.’ stand for?
    ...
            F.M. stereo was an idea. ‘Yes, Words in Stereo.’ I thought, ‘Is it possible to write in stereo, to
    make words as loud as music?’ With this idea, the volume was up to 11. I pitched the title to our first
    editor Emily Conrad and she loved it. For the simple sake of pretentiousness, I removed the first period
    in F.M., and simply called it FM. Magazine. That was it. The name has stuck, and the theme of Frequency
    Modulation (F.M. Stereo) has been the backbone of who we were then, and who we are today.

            Literary magazines in general have a tendency to be high-minded and, for my money, a bit
    elitist. When asked about teaching the class, I jumped at the chance. I wanted the magazine to counter
    what I viewed as the form’s elitist ‘norm’. For good or for ill, in my mind, the magazine was to be
    created by and for young people.

    ...
            The magazine has evolved over the course of 10 years. Initially, the mother of one of my students
    owned a print shop, so we printed on glossy paper in blue and green ink. Later that evolved to
    glossy paper and black & white ink. Eventually that evolved to black & white on plain paper, and ultimately,
    the Madera Unified School District print shop gained the ability to print a full-color cover.
    The format hasn’t changed since.

    ...
            Though many have hated our unconventional and rebellious style, we have won many awards
    and walked with many giants over these 10 years. 1st-3rd Place at the Madera and Fresno Young Writers
    Conferences, Teen Magazine, Fresno Poets Association, San Joaquin Valley Writing Project, California
    Association of Teachers of English, California Association for the Gifted, among others have recognized
    our efforts to push our artists to excel.
The FM. Literary Anthology
Celebrating 10 years of Literary Harassment

Madera High School students collection of poetry and art
over 10 years, Madera California.  

faculty advisor
Darren Klassen
editor
Devon Peterson
Excerpt from editor Devon Peterson's introduction.

              "Is Your Soul Hungry?"

      We here in FM.—we’ve got style, you know? It’s something you can’t fabricate really. It’s like
a flare and a spark got together and made an electrical fire and now you’ve got to bust out the ABC fire
extinguisher ‘cause the regular one doesn’t work. Or something. It’s an unspeakable thing, it’s what
je ne sais quoi would be if that’s what you said to get backstage at a Miles Davis/George Harrison/
Che Guevera jam session. It’s like the exact opposite of strained peas.

     FM. is where you go when you don’t know where to go. It’ll sober you up, give you a shave,
and teach you the rudiments of several highly sophisticated graphic design programs so you can make
that picture of Tupac look just right (man people love Tupac) . It’s also what you read when you don’t
know what to read, but the outcome of that experience is less definitely positive. We’ve got the whole
range of human emotion in our magazine: from being sad about a boy to being happy about a boy
to being inexplicably hungry at late hours. It’s a tour de force of the human condition and can cause
acute aphasia if taken in over-large doses. It is neither for the faint of heart nor the faint of butt.

...
What this all boils down to ultimately is that I, and we, hope you enjoy the fruits of our leisure.
Cheers.