Writing is an act of resistance
-
Say It Aloud
By Jamie Davenport Something entirely disturbing happened last night on my commute to rehearsal. Bear with me. It is a long tale. But one that is necessary to read and digest. I was sitting in the corner of the Red Line T, closest to the conductor, when a group of about eight black kids…
-
Terabytes of Bullshit
By Jon Wesick There’s a poetry reading in Victorville so I drive to the land of football and gang tattoos. The hotel room TV is wall to wall commercials. I realize my life has been one long scream into a firehose, a protest against terabytes of televangelists fad diets, get-rich-quick schemes, and kitchen gadgets in…
-
After Charlottesville
By Nancy Dunlop And may one be happy in the face of bad things? And may one make art or knit or bake a bundt cake in the face of bad things? And may one have a hopeful meditative life, a restful prayer life, an active inner life in the face of bad things? And…
-
Patriarchal Palaver and Politics
By Chinyere Onyekwere Kpotuba sweated profusely as she climbed the ten dilapidated steps to Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission notice board. She looked for her name on the sample ballot, and its absence shocked her, rendered her huge undulating body immobile. She fought back tears of humiliation when a group of certified male contenders…
-
Then There I Was
By Harry Youtt Then there I was, cold again, flipping tossed blankets and a moist sheet back over, and wishing for another, knowing this time it must be the fever leaving; this time it might be finally over, hearing at last the caw of the morning crow that’s made the night worth listening through in…
-
Introducing our newest poetry editor, Laura Orem
Writers Resist is delighted—again—to introduce a new poetry editor: Laura Orem is joining Ruth Nolan in our pursuit of resistance poetry. Laura is a poet, essayist and visual artist. She’s the author of Resurrection Biology (Finishing Line Press 2017) and the chapbook Castrata: a Conversation (Finishing Line Press 2014). Laura received an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington…
-
Confederate Monument
By Luke A. Powers High above Courthouse square Atop an impossibly Tall pillar He has stood Sentinel now A hundred years Summers, winters, Facing a South Always farther away Waiting for word Signal, reinforcement Until he’s gone Blind in alabaster In cap and gloves His buttons smooth Leaning on a rifle That like his face…
-
Empty Plinths
By Robbie Gamble That history was cast, it had its time to patina publically, those grandiose bits: goatees, greatcoats and spurs all sober and saddle-erect, hauled down amid conflicted outcries of righteous mobs, or unbolted and forklifted away into the night. Let the sullen air settle. In municipal plazas, the plinths remain stolid, their bare…
-
Trooper
By Emmett Forrest Was told I was a trooper from the time I was a little girl Shoulders square chin raised high I said goodbye my father stepped onto a plane and I couldn’t bear to watch my eyes downcast from the window frame it takes a strength to become a purple heart to…