Trump
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Learning about Nazis in High School
Bartholomew Barker Reading my history texts, I imaginedwhat I would’ve done if I’d livedin Germany during the War. How I would’ve resisted, hidden Jewsin my basement, risked my life,my freedom to foil the fascists. But having grown-up and fat,I sign petitions, write lettersto the editor and merely vote. I don’t think I could fit a Continue reading
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What We Tend
Meridith Allison The long and short of it is,I’d rather not be listening to a podcastabout how democracies dieas I pull weeds on a Saturday morningwhile the American flag on my neighbor’s porchflaps loudly in the wind. But this much I know: summer remembers both the gardenerand the absence of one. The long and short of it Continue reading
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say what you mean
another nonetMatthew E. Henry an affirmative action hirea multicultural hirea diversity hirean equity hirea DEI… justbe honest and call me anigger,please. Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of six poetry collections, most recently said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the creative nonfiction editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor Continue reading
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Consequences
Benjamin Waldrum They’ll come for you next, you can count on that fact;They’ll keep coming so long as there’s more to subtract.They’ll trumpet their values — no faults, only gloss;They’ll arrive wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. They’ll reduce human rights with the stroke of a pen;They’ll betray their own people, then betray Continue reading
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Inauguration
Bartholomew Barker The Emperor strode across the stage, declaringhe’d woven his suit and robes from the purest goldand they were the classiest, comfortablest clotheshe or anyone had ever worn. Social media saluted, his cultists cheered,grateful reporters transcribed every word,and very serious pundits on television debatedboth sides of his glory. But the poets and children pointed Continue reading
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when asked for help writing a satire
Matthew E. Henry she said it was due in a few hours. so I closed my laptop,stopped grading, and did my colleague’s job. taught herthe classic definitions and offered some examples. butshe was too Black to watch SNL and too young to rememberIn Living Color. so I re-opened my laptop and showed hera Key & Continue reading
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Maverick
Adam G. House The emperor has no clothes,throwing rocks from his glass house,atop his ivory towers,watching each quiet church mouse. Oppressing the subjects with his greedy dictates—self-serving proclamations for power.Thieving sleight of hand from behind his holy veil:sanctimonious stench, sheep-skinned wolf, thorny fading flower. The royal lighthouse goes dim,but the patriarch says it’s getting brighter.The Continue reading
activism, Adam G House, American politics, anti-authoritarian, Authoritarianism, chapbook, civil liberties, contemporary poetry, digital chapbook, dissent, free speech, poems of protest, Poetry, political poetry, protest poetry, Record of Dissent, resistance, The Chaos Section Poetry Project, Trump, Veteran Poetry -
The American Dream 2.0
Shannon Frost Greenstein Part One In America, we quantize our bodiesand the complexities of our brains –assigning each part a separate dollar value –because health insurance companies don’t deal in health;because health insurance companies deal in profit. In America, we employ thousandsin the manufacture of bulletproof backpacks;entire factories pumping out Kevlarlike this band-aid is the Continue reading
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misstra know-it-all
after Stevie Wonder Matthew E. Henry he’s everything the racists hoped a Black president would be.a sexual predator, jackal-slinking from one vulgarityto the next—tiny hands always in someone else’s pocket.a bastard with multiple baby mommas, married—for the moment—to an off-White woman his supporters used to slut shame, citingsomething about “family values.” with a bachelor’s in shucking,a Continue reading
The Chaos Section Poetry Project 