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February Thaw
John Steele The backyard is writhing. The ground—that expanse of leaf litter and pine needleswhere there is no grass and we are notenslaved to a nonexistent lawn—it ischurning, roiling, leaves flipping into the airlike bubbles bursting in a pre-spaghettipot of water headlong toward boiling. Wind? No wind. But robins. Dozens of robins. Blitzing insectsby instinct,… Continue reading
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This Crimson Life
Julie Parker-Kinsey gossamer-thin this crimson lifeme and mine sought refuge withinimmigrants stalked by gun and knifegossamer-thin this crimson life this is how their hate becomes rifebrute force tattooed upon our skingossamer-thin this crimson lifeme and mine sought refuge within Julie Parker-Kinsey is a poet, writer of short stories, songwriter, and amateur photographer. Her work has… Continue reading
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Moral Injury
Mona Lisa More often than not,Our heroes discoverRunning into dangerAntagonizesLeaders who avoid it. Instead of praise,Near-sighted autocratsJudge according to optics,Urge us to see all sides.Righteously indignant,Yet indifferent to suffering. A friend of Mona Lisa’s once said, “You’re officially a shit-magnet” in the most caring way possible, to which she replied, “But I’ve handled all of… Continue reading
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To the Game-Show Loving US President
Eileen ike West To he, who just understands the ‘dumb’At the end of free-dom,Let me tell you:Only TV cop shows start with dumb-dumb,Not real life.So please, pass seven new letters,And let’s put back on the board,The full word, F-R-E-E-D-O-M.As is, the game seems mighty riggedAgainst the main. While we’re at it, let’s wipe the slate… Continue reading
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I protest that I must protest
Carl “Papa” Palmer I protest that I must protest— That rights are bartered, not possessed That laws are bent for those best dressed That power plays the game of chess That we pawns are crushed and dispossessed I protest that I must protest— That our history facts are skewed at best That memory is repressed and distressed That… Continue reading
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An Atheist Perspective
Mark Sebring A military-style ICE raid on a Chicago apartment building arrested 37 undocumented immigrants. Innocent citizens living in the same building were brutally treated and detained for hours, for the crime of being non-white. When a woman, concerned about the children, naked and zip tied together in the street, asked, “Where is the morality?… Continue reading
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Demilitarize Your Tongue
Cam Whelr MD Choose a date. A lunar event will suffice.An equinox or solstice will do. Any moon phaseyou please. An insignificant day works best.Next Tuesday. Even today.Today. Yes. Yes. Yes.Write it down.Begin in the bone.Oust the hustle and grind of these leastbodies, exhaustion-driven, by colonialists’powers. Their classism and castes.Their urgent hustle and scurry. Shucktheir… Continue reading
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Comrades
Kerfe Roig Who, then, can we become? Our identities have been erased. We have been sorted into anonymous composites of bodies and minds—cut, rearranged, superimposed and pasted onto a predetermined transcript, that allows for no individuality, no escape from their prison boxes of perjury. Our faces have been frozen into synthetic amalgamations of alien avatars.… Continue reading
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Ice Surrounds my Car
Bartholomew Barker Left by a winter stormthick enough to block the lightand resist the plastic scraper I smash the blunt handledown on the windshieldhard enough to leave a crater like a bullet hole The ice which seemed so strongwas melting from above and belowfragile as tyrant’s lace After the first flawit comes off in sheetslike… Continue reading
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It’s Real
James Brumbley Jr. It’s never real until it happens to us.They come in the night and take strangers.Hard-working people trying to get by,in no better positions than everyone else.We don’t speak up because it’s not anyone we know.They come in the day and take our neighbors.Familiar people we borrow things from.We say nothing because it… Continue reading
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About the Project
The Chaos Section Poetry Project publishes curated poetry collections rather than individual poems on a rolling basis. Our work is primarily rooted in contemporary free verse, though we’re open to a wide range of forms when they serve the book or project.
Each collection is built around a central theme and shaped through close editorial collaboration, with an emphasis on voice, craft, and emotional honesty.
All books are available free to read on the site and as free high-quality digital downloads. Print editions are offered for readers who want a physical copy.
Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age
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