We all could stand to read more poetry. I say this as a poet who is immersed in poetry daily. You can never have too much of it–and personally, I don’t understand why more people don’t read poetry more. It’s short, which means you can digest a poem (the first time) anywhere. It’s all very momentary. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t go back to the poem later, and reread it with new eyes.
This is why I’m rounding up 13 poets writing about resistance whose work I admire. We can always cope with more poetry, am I right?
1. Danez Smith – “You’re Dead America” (Buzzfeed)
2. Robert Balun – “No-Titled” (Yes Poetry)
3. Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib – “The Day After the Election I Did Not Go Outside” (The New Inquiry)
4. Catherine Valdez – “Three Poems” (Heavy Feather Review)
5. Jen DeGregorio – “Three Poems” (Heavy Feather Review)
6. Guillermo Filice Castro – “Poems & Photographs” (Tarpaulin Sky)
7. Jennifer S. Cheng – “Inside Our Killing” (Tarpaulin Sky)
8. Jericho Brown – “Bullet Points” (Buzzfeed)
9. Yehuda Amichai – “The Place Where We Are Right” (On Being)
10. Maya Angelou – “On the Pulse of Morning” (University of Wisconsin)
11. W.H. Auden – “As I Walked Out One Evening” (Poets.org)
12. Octavio Paz – “Proem” (Poets.org)
13. Anne Waldman – “Endtime” (Poets.org)
Joanna C. Valente is a human who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the author of Sirs & Madams (Aldrich Press, 2014), The Gods Are Dead (Deadly Chaps Press, 2015), Marys of the Sea (2016, ELJ Publications), & Xenos (2016, Agape Editions) and the editor of “A Shadow Map: An Anthology by Survivors of Sexual Assault” (CCM, 2017). They received their MFA in writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Joanna is also the founder of Yes, Poetry, as well as the managing editor for Luna Luna Magazine and CCM. Some of their writing has appeared in Prelude, Apogee, Spork The Atlas Review, The Feminist Wire, BUST, The James Franco Review, and elsewhere. They also teach workshops at Brooklyn Poets.