Poetry
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The Gardener
Chris Chan Someone above our heads is building a fenceto keep his neighbors’ weeds out. Pushing the stakeinto the ground, he lifts the hammer to strikethe sharp spoke down, and at his feet explodesa clod of earth. He does this rhythmically — rightfist clenched, left hand loose — as thoughthe dream of weedless grass were… Continue reading
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They’ll Say They Didn’t Know
Bartholomew Barker I can imagine how it feelsto cross a border for a better future and not do the paperworkto get pregnant and not want to have a babyto live in a body not carrying the right gender I can imagine how it feelsto be vilified — to be huntedto be afraid of every strangerand… Continue reading
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New Release: Record of Dissent (Summer 2025)
We’re proud to announce the release of our first published collection:Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025 This free digital chapbook features 44 poems of protest, resistance, survival, and hope—brought together under the banner of The Chaos Section Poetry Project. The voices in this collection speak clearly and urgently in… Continue reading
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What I Be
Originally published at The Chaos Section in 2013. I will be the sonof fathers good and bad.I will be the dadsomeone never had. I will be the laborerin factories big and small.I will climb and fall,and mortar my own wall. I will be the madmanin a suit of eccentricity,drowning in publicity—only true friends can find… Continue reading
The Chaos Section Poetry Project 