Call for Poems for "Poets Speak" Anthology Series

From writer and anthology editor John Roche.

Hi Friends!

 I have decided to start a series of mini-anthologies (each less than a hundred pages), in response to the national and planetary crisis provoked by the fraudulent election of 11/8/16. It will be called Poets Speak (while we still can), and will be co-published by Beatlick Press and Jules' Poetry Playhouse Publications. Noted Albuquerque artist Denise Weaver Ross has already designed striking covers for the series.

I envision these as rapid responses in the tradition of Medieval and Renaissance broadsides, Tom Paine's pamphlets, Walt Whitman's The 18th President and Democratic Vistas, Emanuel Haldeman-Julius's Blue Books, the IWW Songbook, the A.J. Muste Memorial pamphlet series, and Samizdat dissident publications from behind the Iron Curtain.

What I Wrote Yesterday

Eight years ago, we voted for Obama under the banner of hope, which always bothered me. "Hope," like "faith" seems like a clever substitute word for "work," a convenient shortcut that ignores what needs to be done to enact change. But whatever I thought then, I am horrified that people are voting for Trump under the banner of pride. Pride over perceived persecution for being white. Prideful anger at perceived wrongs just because other marginalized groups gain attention and rights they fought so long for. Pride that lets them ignore the fact that by voting for Trump they are in bed with white nationalist groups like the KKK. The pride that you can hear in people's voices as they, lifelong members of a multicultural nation, say out loud that multiculturalism doesn't work! I decried Hilary early on as another entitled candidate cut from the same cloth as Jeb Bush. Wow. Just...wow. I never truly understood entitlement until I heard Trump in rallies, conferences, especially the debates, declaring himself the winner each time like a bratty child who doesn't get punished for throwing his dinner plate to the floor because mom is just...tired. I voted early to keep Trump out of office. Whatever happens over the next two days, I will have to go back to the real world, which is full of people who will vote for him, which includes many people I love. I have maintained silence for a number of reasons. It would be wrong to not throw my hat in once with something other than a poem or a clever meme. I don't want likes, and if I could shut off comments, I would. This is just my marker in today's history. Good luck to everyone the next twenty-four hours.

Just in Time for The Iowa Caucus

I try not to put non-columnist poets in the webzine multiple times so close together, but both the timing and the poet demanded it. Read Susan Deer Cloud's poem on voting (includes her photography) today on Oddball Magazine.
 

Where's The Poetry in This Year's U.S. Election?

Find out by checking out (or even submitting to) the Trump Poetry Review.