#poetry is political poetry is politics

[feral-ballad]

The issue is not racism or Zionism or anything like that, the issue is that you're posting all this political discourse on a poetry blog. People follow blogs that post a certain type of content and if the blog drastically changes the type of content it posts, a lot of people are gonna leave, regardless of who is being defended, because it's not the type of content they're looking for. It’s just the name of the game called social media. I can see that you’re passionate and your heart is breaking for ones who are suffering, but I’d like to think that not everyone is racist, not everyone is apathetic, and not everyone has to be violent (verbally, physically, or otherwise) to make a point or be validated. But perhaps, I’m an idealist.

you’re right. i’m a mere poetry blog so i’m obviously not a real person. i’m a poetry blog so i can’t spread awareness. if this is the not the type of “content” they’re looking for, then i’m happy that they left. the number followers i have has never been my concern. i have been posting poetry about all types of cultures ever since i created this blog. i have also been spreading arabic poetry for 3 years now. it has always been political. it has always been about culture and identity. people like concepts, but when they see real incidents happening in front of them, they make excuses: “this is not the type of content i signed up for, i come here for escapism and now you’e flooding my feed with politics,” and you know what? sure, i understand. i have been quiet myself this past week because i felt so helpless and devastated. i even deactivated social media because i was hurting so much. but if i’m not acknowledging these people, who will? i’m not a bot. i’m a human being. i have a platform and i have a voice. if i choose to be silent in times like these, then i simply don’t deserve this platform.

[mysharona1987]

[intersectionalpraxis]

In order for me to write poetry

That isn't political

I must listen to the birds

And in order to hear the birds

The warplanes must be silent

-Marwan Makhoul

[fixing-bad-posts]

block anyone telling you not to vote <3 voter suppression is fucked and insidious

[tiefling-queer]

maybe when people of color around the world tell you that voting for biden is not harm reduction, maybe implying that they need to check their privilege and find in their heart the truth that maintaining the imperialist status quo is what's best for the world because we have a ~°☆Responsibility☆°~ to protect those ☆~•poor disadvantaged third world peasants•~☆ by voting for someone who tells us he's less genocidal than the other guy - look, maybe at this point youre stupid and racist.

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

A poem written by Marcellus Williams about Palestine.

Despite DNA evidence proving his innocence, he was executed on September 24, 2024

[cheekios]

Please Bring Kaiser Home.

I have been having complications with managing my diabetes that have led me to be hospitalized twice. I live alone. Kaiser is a precious pup that specializes in detecting when blood sugar is too high or too low before it leads to complications. Something I have been struggling with. Kaiser would not only improve my quality of life but also be my companion and friend

I’m asking for community support get a Medical Alert Dog. It is a huge ask but any support is appreciated 💗

CA: $HushEmu

PP: emuslayter@gmail.com

[quote-bomber]

[soracities]

Wisława Szymborska, “Children of Our Age”, View with a Grain of Sand (trans. Stanisław Barańczak & Clare Cavanagh)  

[shalom-iamcominghome]

[feral-ballad]

"the issue is that you're posting all this political discourse on a poetry blog" do people not realize that art doesn't exist without political discourse because everything is inherently political in the capitalist hellscape we call the world we live in???????? I would genuinely feel uncomfortable if you, a poetry blog, stayed silent for the mere reason that so many of the poems you have shared come from people whose mere existence has been reduced to political discourse.

i’m glad that there are people who get it. i’m an english literature graduate and analyzing texts from a colonial/post-colonial approach has always been essential. at the heart of every piece of literature is a political issue. almost 99% of the poetry i post belong to marginalized/colonized communities. poetry is beautiful, yes, but most of all… poetry is revolutionary. it’s a protest. literature, in general, had been used to speak on important issues like race, trauma, war, religion, injustice, etc. “nothing like a beautifully crafted poem to rouse the masses and communicate an intensity of emotion that is otherwise untranslatable.” so if you claim to like the poetry i post, and then proceed to complain about my posts being political, you need to take a good long hard look at yourself.

[mysharona1987]

[hussyknee]

I woke up to the news about Refaat Alreer. I still feel cold. Imagine seeing someone talking on your TL every day, narrating what the genociders are doing, counting the dead and telling their stories, amplifying his colleagues in Palestinian activism and academia, advocating and pleading endlessly for a ceasefire, delivering blistering witticisms about Zionist propaganda and then...he and his whole family are dead.

Two of my favourite tweets by him, calling out the craven Western media for never naming Israel.

It feels like a funeral today. My whole TL full of his students and Palestinians mourning Refaat alongside writers and journalists and academics from all over the Global South. The only people who matter to us is us.

Meanwhile, Zionists are attacking us under our mourning tweets, circulating the tweet where he laughed at the monstrous lie of Hamas cooking a baby in an oven during Oct 7th, one of the lies that fuelled the slaughter that eventually killed him too.

This was his last tweet.

USAmerican disability activist Imani Barbarin's tweet today was partially motivated by Refaat's death.

I need to go offline for a while.

I leave you with Refaat's last poem that was his pinned tweet for over a month. When a storyteller dies, generations are robbed of universes. When a poet dies, the world loses a piece of its soul.

You can find Refaat's book "Gaza Writes Back" in my gdrive folder of Palestinian literature. I don't know where the royalties will go now, but please also try and find it in a bookstore or library.

[fixing-bad-posts]

Maybe it's mean to say, and maybe it's not my place, but i immediately dismiss any people who vote for Trump.

[derangedrhythms]

Margaret Atwood, Power Politics;from ‘Hesitations Outside the Door’

[gobcorend]

Enough for Me

Enough for me to die on her earth

Be buried in her

To melt and vanish into her soil

Then sprout forth as a flower

Played with by a child from my country.

Enough for me to remain

In my country's embrace

To be in her close as a handful of dust

A spring of grass

A flower.

-- Fadwa Tuqan

I hope, in these days, to share poems or parts of writings of these wonderful people and that this will also encourage you to read and share poetry or small writings - both of writers and your own -.

WRITING IS ALSO A FORM OF PROTEST!