the craft. poetry and activism.
I recently came across an author discussing their thought that fiction isn’t activism. I’ll put a pin in that to say, poetry definitely is and I don’t want to hear anything else about it. Maybe I don’t know the true definition of activism, but I know that poetry moves. I know that poetry unites. I know that poetry has for centuries highlighted the human condition, brought the perils of society to the forefront and has been at the helm of movements.
I may be pushing it, but the very act of Black and POC people writing anything feels revolutionary to me. I think about our ancestors who were persecuted for reading and writing. To get to a place where our writing is revered, award-winning, honored, makes me feel like it’s a distinct sense of accomplishment and without even trying, activism.
An Oxford definition of activism states that it is the policy or action of using vigorous campaigning to bring about political or social change. And sure maybe you can relegate fiction to silly entertainment, I do not, but poetry definitely fits the mold here, in my opinion.
Toni Cade Bambara would say Sonia Sanchez was a “cultural worker.” Sanchez’s work explores the relationships between Black people, Black people and white people, Black people and society. Throughout a lifetime of work, I would think it fair to say that Sanchez is indeed campaigning for something. For women to be loved. For Black people to love one another. For Black people to stand up in the face of the many adversities they are faced with. To consume her work could certainly bring about social change.
If you’re of the belief that rap is indeed poetry, I think about the protests of 2020 and how on the streets we heard people reciting the chant “We Gon Be Alright” from Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” from To Pimp a Butterfly. The pre-chorus reads:
Wouldn't you know
We been hurt, been down before
Nigga, when our pride was low
Lookin' at the world like, "Where do we go?"
Nigga, and we hate po-po
Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho'
Nigga, I'm at the preacher's door
My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow
But we gon' be alright
When it comes to the work of someone like Jasmine Mans in Black Girl Call Home which confronts the intersectionality of Black and Woman and Queer, It tells an important story. In many senses the collection is like a coming of age story that allows you to see the true search for satisfaction for someone like Mans in this place we call home. It brings to our doorstep the pains of beauty, of contorting, the standards set forth that we often miss, racism and violence.
Didn’t Feel Like Winning
She remembers
fighting for her virginity
and winning.
She didn’t feel like she won.
She had to remind herself,
When she is alone, that she did win.
The nights she can’t sleep
she stays up
counting the girls
who didn’t win.
Those girls don’t have faces.
They are footnotes
relapsing in the margins
of poems.
They are the dust collected
between the bottom of the curtain
and the stage.
They are whispers.
You never met
these girls,
But you know
all of them.
Is it not activism to call out the girls whose names we know or don’t know and their often silent fights against sexual violence? To call out what it means to find home within ourselves? To save ourselves? And maybe it’s all about what we do after we read the poem, the action, but I certainly think knowing, getting books in the hands of the right people is a great beginning.
I will say this of the author who talked about fiction and activism, their main point was the limited access of books to the audiences in need to be activated, so to speak. Which is a crucial point. But it only furthers the idea to me that there must be something very important within those pages that they want to keep from us. The pages, the sentiments, would indeed have the ability to move those who read them, but instead, books are banned left and right. If words weren’t that powerful then why the tizzy?
My consumption of poetry is at times, random, rarely linear, and yet I always find the right words at the perfect time. There’s a poem for that. For almost every human experience and emotion, there is some talented poet who has drawn it into verse. Who has examined the thing and found new ways to describe it that you couldn’t have fathomed. Poets seem to see the contents of our hearts and rearrange them onto the page, sometimes in rhyme, other times in simple declarations like, “we gon be alright.”
Writing Opportunities
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The Yale Review is hiring an Editorial Assistant. The Yale Review editorial assistant provides editorial and administrative support to the editor, deputy editor, and managing editor of The Yale Review. The editorial assistant supports the editor with day-to-day administration, teaching, and keeps the editor’s calendar, as well as helping the editorial team at every stage of the production process for the print quarterly and The Yale Review website. TYR’s editorial assistant manages the office, and assists with public outreach, event planning, subscription management, and various administrative tasks. (Part-Time)
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Time Out New York is hiring a Food and Drink Editor. This editor will be covering the full scope of New York’s hospitality industry—including bars, restaurants, cafés, chefs, pop-ups and events, as well as the latest trends and news. They will need to be a brilliant communicator: in writing, on video and in person. ($70-80k)
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To Be Read
On the Binary of Good and Bad Literature
There Are Too Many Books; Or Publishing Shouldn’t Be All About Quantity
James Patterson and the Joyful Librarian Mychal Threets Talk New Librarians and Book Bans
Poetic Memoirs, Collections, and Nonfiction Books for Your Book Club