Belonging to a Place:  Two Poets on Place as Legacy

In the work of J. Macon King and Iris Jamahl Dunkle, landscapes speak—not merely as settings, but as repositories of memory, history, identity, and belonging. Their poems invite us to see place as an inheritance, one that asks not only where we come from, but how we belong to the places that shape us and what we are called to preserve.

Iris Jamahl Dunkle is a poet, biographer, and scholar whose work challenges the male-centric narratives of the American West, amplifying the often-overlooked voices of women. Her books include the USA Today bestselling, Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb (University of California Press, 2024), and her latest poetry collection, West: Fire : Archive (2021).

J.Macon King is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The MILL VALLEY LITERARY REVIEW. King’s debut novelized memoir of 1979 San Francisco, Circus of the Sun, received stellar reviews. He revived and directed Marin County’s Rhubarb Revue Theatre and his writing and work has featured in SFGate, Marin Independent Journal, San Francisco Magazine, San Francisco Marina Times, Pacific Sun, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Brushfire Journal, Sensitive Skin, The Bohemian, Blue Institute, San Francisco’s Beat Museum and more. He has published three poetry chapbooks, is co-founder of Gerstle Park Writers Salon and a charter member of Live Poet Society.

In collaboration with the Marin Poetry Center