Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Poems of Resistance, Power & Resilience – Janet Bowdan

Close up image of a microphone on a stage. The audience that is facing the microphone is blurred, appearing as a myriad of colors (red, white, green, yellow, etc.)
As the incoming administration builds its agenda of attack on marginalized people, on freedom of speech, on the earth itself, poetry will continue to be an essential voice of resistance. Poets will speak out in solidarity, united against hatred, systemic oppression, and violence and for justice, beauty, and community.
                
In this spirit, Split This Rock is offering its blog as a Virtual Open Mic. For the rest of this frightening month, January of 2017, we invite you to send us poems of resistance, power, and resilience.

We will post every poem we receive unless it is offensive (containing language that is derogatory toward marginalized groups, that belittles, uses hurtful stereotypes, explicitly condones or implies a call for violence, etc.). After the Virtual Open Mic closes, we hope to print out and mail all of the poems to the White House.

For guidelines on how to submit poems for this call, visit the Call for Poems of Resistance, Power & Resilience blog post


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Circus folds up tents, moves to DC
by Janet Bowdan

It’s been losing audiences ever since the elephants left
So now we have a new elephant
Trumpeting, sending out the call:
“We need more clowns!” Watch the parade
All dressed up and turning cartwheels.
Can they repeat the oath standing on their heads?
If they say it upside down, have they pledged
The opposite, not to uphold but to undermine
The offices they have never respected?

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