STEPHEN BARILE, is an award-winning poet, 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee, and author of the memoir A Cricket Dream, and Here We Are, a chapbook (2004). He was born in Fresno, California, attended public schools, Fresno City College, received an Associates of Arts degree in Theater Arts, attended California State University, Fresno, studying dramatic arts and theater direction. He earned a Liberal Arts bachelor’s degree from Fresno Pacific University, and graduated CSU Fresno with a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. He was the former commissioner and chairman of the Fresno Arts Council, the William Saroyan Society, a commissioner and chairman of the Fresno County Historical Landmarks and Records Advisory Commission. Stephen Barile was former Vice-President of the Fresno Free College Foundation and was a long-time member of the Fresno Poets Association. He taught writing at CSU Fresno, and Madera College. Stephen has written poetry, in earnest, for over 35 years.  His poems have been anthologized and published widely in on-line and print journals, including Ararat, The Broad River Review, Featured Poets, Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal,  The Heartland Review, Hyebred, Ignatian,  London Grip, Mason Street Review, Muleskinner Journal, New World Writing Quarterly, North Dakota Quarterly, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, The Opiate, OVUNQUE SIAMO, Pharos, Rio Grande Review, Sandy River Review, The San Joaquin Review,  Santa Clara Review, The Selkie, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, Willawaw Journal, Willows Wept Review, The Write Launch. (237 words)