The Chaos Section Poetry Project
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Umbilical Cord
Nina Kodrič and Snježana Vračar Mihelač the news of the day cut right throughmothers start refusing foodas if it could be realit’s not a hasty decisionit stirs our indifferencethey have nothing left to loseblasts throughexcept for their voicethe rampant apathythey stop impassable bodiesendless pretence knows no boundsscattered like cargoesinstead of a containable everyday lifevital like… Continue reading
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Mother of Removal
Nick Allison after “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus Not like the torch-lit welcome of storied fame,With open arms set wide from land to land;Here at our tower-lined, floodlit gates shall standA stone-faced sentinel with a torch, whose flameBurns warning now for strangers, and her nameMother of Removal. From her closed handNo welcome glows; her… Continue reading
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The Exiled Colossus
Barbara Harris Leonhard A golden shovel sonnet after “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus The suffering of people de-fame-dand cast from this landbased on their skin color, not where they stand.The would-be king, who speaks with flame-sand double-checks his list of name-s,refuses refugees a hand.Instead, he issues heartless command-s.Without the the facts, DHS frame-sPoet Renee… Continue reading
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Stars of Minneapolis (Sestina)
Karen McGee This heart fractured and frozen as the iceoutside the window and on the nightly news. Losing powerno longer an idle threat. Then, resistance breathesnew life—neighbor by neighbor they map routesand deliver food—commoners tenderizedby compassion contrast the cruelty of men wearing stars on their Nazi-wannabe jackets. L’etoiledu Nord this city—a city forged by cold… Continue reading
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Eye of the Storm
Rachel Armes-McLaughlin Quiet now – We mistake it asa pauseto breathe. It is not. The silencestretches, lengthens intosomething that feels safe even while familiesare taken – shh, shh –today, next door. The twins are no longerfeatured news, yet their families write to usfrom afar, describingscenes from war. So calm and deceptive,what do you see in… Continue reading
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Indivisible
R.M. Carlson tiny bare toeszip-ties cut into tender skinloose-limbed, heads lollingslammed togethernaked skin flinchingcold metal of a box truck Still We Come predators pacingcirclingleaning inbullets shatter glass, enter skullblood dribbles down onto chin, chestfucking bitch Still We Come woman shrinksa rabbit flattening to the pavementstaring at black bootswhite collared shepherd steps in:take me insteadstrapped goon,… Continue reading
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“Uprooted: Poems of Resistance, Witness, and Survival” is now live
Uprooted: Poems of Resistance, Witness, and Survival is now available to read free on the site. It’s our third collection, and it gathers poets writing about ICE enforcement and immigration overreach under the second Trump administration, and the long history that came before it. Read the full book here You can scroll through it online… Continue reading
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Lioness Books Needs Our Help
Lioness Books—the first bookstore to carry our poetry collection—lost everything in a fire days before their grand opening. Here’s how you can help. Continue reading
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The Chaos Section Poetry Project is Open for Submissions: Immigration Enforcement / Immigration Enforcement Brutality
Submissions Are Open! The Chaos Section Poetry Project is now accepting poems for our next collection. Theme: Immigration Enforcement / Immigration Enforcement BrutalityDeadline: May 2026 (or when we have enough submissions)Publication: Fall 2026 For our next collection, the theme is Immigration Enforcement – which will absolutely include poetry addressing brutality under the Trump administration. We have seen Immigration and Customs… Continue reading
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Turning Partly Cloudy by Midday
Now that we’ve shared the individual poems from What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On, we wanted to take a moment to highlight the cover artwork for the collection. The painting, Turning Partly Cloudy by Midday, was created specifically for the cover of this book by Central Texas artist Bonner Fowles. The piece… Continue reading
