Writing is an act of resistance
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They Are All Terrorists
anti-conflict writing, Lori Yeghiayan Friedman, terrorism, Narrative nonfiction, Amplified Voices, anti-war writingBy Lori Yeghiayan Friedman is what my (now long-dead) mother used to say to the TV news reports of the bombings, beheadings, settlements, kidnappings, hijackings, imprisonments, killings―the latest eruptions of violence in a region far away, part of a war my mother fled with her family decades earlier. She said it while sitting in…
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Two Poems by Saheed Sunday
a daggerpoint & what is salvation if not how we give our body to beauty to the memory of what does not rust —Othuke Umukoro the Sunday before this one, the catechist warned about hellfire and its odor of smoky taste. he said it would come unto us like the clouds, breaking off whatever…
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Caught in the Crossfire of a Madding Crowd
By J.D. Harlock caught in the crossfire of a madding crowd, the child runs into the arms of her mother and nestles herself ‘neath a limp arm drenched in blood, dreading the glare of the machine that scans the corpses of the agitators that dared to disturb the order it was programmed to maintain,…
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Gauze
By Lisa Suhair Majaj when you learn that “gauze” comes from Gaza you will begin to understand how light passing through translucent fabric illuminates the delicate porous openings between threads that interweave to allow molecules of air and light to flow from one place to another without blockade or border, and you will learn…
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Ofrenda for Resistance
By Jordan Alejandro Rivera Tier I: Inframundo Poppy and cempasúchil petals Intermingled as our destinies Blood, bones, and stems Obsidian spearheads And shattered sugar skulls Tier II: Tierra Tomatoes, white sapotes, and olives Laid out on a lattice-patterned scarf Ten thousand and forty-three Candles flicker in harmony Guiding us here together Wax binds our…
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In Pillars, the Prized City
By Maira Faisal “You ask: What is the meaning of ‘homeland’? “They will say: The house, the mulberry tree, the chicken coop, the beehive, the smell of bread, and the first sky. “You ask: Can a word of eight letters be big enough for all of these, yet too small for us?” — from In…
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Zoo
anti-war writing, anti-conflict writing, N. de Vera, Narrative nonfiction, Writers Resist, immigration rights, Amplified VoicesBy N. de Vera I fidgeted at the line for immigration after arriving at LAX. When it was my turn, I calmly answered the officer’s questions, hoping this was a routine interview that would go smoothly. However, when I saw that look on his face, I knew what I was in for—again. “Wait here,…
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Two Poems by Lonav Ojha
anti-conflict writing, Lonav Ojha, Fascism, Poetry, Writers Resist, resistance, anti-conflict poetry, Amplified VoicesTo Refaat Alareer, who became a kite Brother, you looked so loving, holding very gently that box of strawberries, and behind your home, not yet, not again, but incessantly in ruins. You were not a number, you were, an educator, a cheerful poet, settler’s boogeyman, and now that you’re dead, English is…
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18 Jennas
By Jenna Mayzouni A social media influencer had posted that he looked up how many people were killed in Gaza who shared his name. Morbid curiosity seized me, and I searched for mine. On November 1,[1] there were 18 Jenna/Janas killed in Gaza. On my birthday every year, my mother recounts the story of…