Books
7 Powerful Political Poems To Fuel Your Resistance
For many of us, the past year (Do we pin this to when the last election campaigning began? The primaries?) has been one epic act of resistance. And there's the resistance you're a part of — and probably there's the resistance that's happening under your radar.
Inspiring your own resistance, though, is really different than being aware of resistance in general. Personally, I think being inspired happens through communication: talking, productively arguing (yep, it's possible), and reading. In an article for this publication, "The Hard Truth That Good White People Need To Hear," Faridah Gbadamosi writes:
"What [the country] needs are actual allies; allies who listen to people of color, allies who don’t speak over people of color, allies who do not need to be told that they are good, allies that do not center their activism around whiteness, allies who are not colorblind.
It's important to inspired to rise up, stand up, and act. These seven poems might light the fire in you. For more reading recommendations, visit Bustle's 31 Days of Reading Resistance, then head over to 22 Small Act of Resistance You Can Do To Take Action Every Day to find your next mission:
'Klan March' by Quraysh Ali Lansana
perhaps in a sincere gesture of protest
the managing editor decided it best
i welcome the grand imperial wizard
to channel nine
'In Tongues' by Tonya M. Foster
These yawns into which we enter as into a harbor—
Come. Go. Don’t. says the vocal oceans which usher
each us, so unlike any ship steered or steering into.
A habit of place and placing a body.
'Sticking It to the Man' by Jan Beatty
'The Pressure of the Moment' by Dara Wier
The pressure of the moment can cause someone to kill someone or something
The leniency of consideration might treat with more kindness
Which is to be desired. Or at least often to be desired.
But if my house is on fire and you notice, I wish you would kill
That fire.
'You Tell Us What To Do' by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Now do whatever, follow each clue,
accuse whomever, as much as you will,
our bodies are still the same,
our wounds still open.
'Weary Rings' by César Vallejo
There are desires to return, to love, to not disappear,
and there are desires to die, fought by two
opposing waters that have never isthmused.
'Ramallah' by Bei Dao
in Ramallah
seeds sown along the high noon
death blossoms outside my window
resisting, the tree takes on a hurricane’s
violent original shape
This article was originally published on
