Poetry of Resistance

Zoe Legato's Commonplace Book

[reimer2367-blog]

and I was thinking how the songs coming from the radio       were like the speech of a single human American           psyche— the one voice of the one collective dream, industrial,       amphetamine, and the starts unmoving—

Dana Levin (via reimer2367)

I thought this was an interesting quote because it implies that all of society can be collectively defined by a song on the radio. Our lives are so ruled by the media that the media is ultimately the one that decides what our one American psyche is. Shouldn’t we have more choice in the matter? America is touted as an individualistic culture, yet we are all easily defined by a 3 and a half minute song. Maybe we aren’t as independent as we think we are.

[zoelegato]

Or Forever Hold Your Peace

America is controlled by the media.

Consumerism, industrialism, materialism.

Look around you:  we’re selling ourselves, but for what?

Modern times, computerized warfare, technology takeover.

We have a duty to fight back against

wrongful conviction, the death penalty, and murder.

Let us focus on brotherly love.

Let us restore our faith in humanity.

Let us speak now and live in the moment.

No second chances.

Death is coming eventually.

[amyfeola-deactivated20150923]

place miniature golf in a garden and an advertisement for miniature golf shaped for no good reason like an old Dutch windmill

Jack Anderson (via amyfeola)

I think this quote says a lot about consumerism and how it has gotten out of hand in America.  There is no room for the beauty of nature, someone has to develop it so they can make a profit, such as putting a mini golf in a once peaceful garden.  This consumerist society is also oblivious to respecting other cultures and just takes things from other countries that they think are cool, even though they are completely out of context, like the old Dutch windmill on a mini golf course.  America’s obsession with buying everything has taken over the beauty of our country and now even the beauty of others.

[madeleine-drost-blog]

The beautiful thing is that a group of men began to stand behind me like a fleet of bodyguards, she says, like newly found uncles and brothers.

Claudia Rankine “from Citizen” (via madeleine-drost)

I think this is a really amazing quote because it verifies humanity’s inherent goodness. While there will always be one person looking down on you and pushing you around, there will also always be a flock of people to help you up after you fall. Even though the boy in this poem had been bullied for being black, it’s inspiring to see that there was also a group of men willing to do the right thing. It says a lot about the human race that we will go out of our way to help another person.

[daveypetey]

They use words like “casualties” to speak of murder.

Aracelis Girmay, Arroz Poetica (via daveypetey)

I think this is a really powerful quote because we detach ourselves from destruction and things that we know deep down are wrong. We cover it up by using different terminology and telling ourselves that it’s not so bad, all we did was push a button, and we didn’t really murder anyone. However, in reality, that button was the only thing standing between a missile and a person and you pushed it.

[zoelegato]

capt'n oh my captain this burning has become a body capt'n oh my captain this child is ash

Nick Flynn “fire”

[zoelegato]

Ibrahim, age 12, as if your blood were any less red, as if the skins that melted were any less skin, & the bones that broke were any less bone

Aracelis Girmay “Arroz Poetica”

[zoelegato]

hey let's sell our souls a few more times    no one's really counting

Nick Flynn "jesus knew"

[zoelegato]

a god who pisses out of fear before the flaring electrodes of torture

Francisco X. Alarcon "Prayer"

[zoelegato]

we were losing our bodies-- digitized salt of bytes and speed we were becoming a powder--

Dana Levin "Techno"

[zoelegato]

GOD OF DATA PROCESSING who guideth the blind missile on course to its target freezing the spine of the Angel of Death as it passeth through space --

Olga Cabral "Prayer to a Computer"

[zoelegato]

in place of a deer place an iron deer at a lawn furniture store selling iron deer

Jack Anderson "The Invention of New Jersey"

[zoelegato]

And yes, you want it to stop, you want the black child pushed to the ground to be seen, to be helped to his feet and be brushed off, not brushed off by the person that did not see him, has never seen him, has perhaps never seen anyone who is not a reflection of himself.

Claudia Rankine "from Citizen:  An American Lyric"

[zoelegato]

are we not worthy of a city of ash? of 1000 ships launched because we are missed?

Danez Smith "not an elegy for Mike Brown"

[zoelegato]

9. phoenix who forgets to un-ash

Danez Smith "alternate names for black boys"

[zoelegato]

what does it taste like:  a takeout box between my legs.

Franny Choi "To the Man Who Shouted "I Like Pork Fried Rice" at Me on the Street"

[zoelegato]

He's cool, but he don't know what I am, & so what. Fred Sanford's on in a few & I got the dandruff-free head & shoulders of white people & a cheeseburger belly & a Thriller CD & Nike high tops & slavery's dead & the TV's my daddy--

Terrance Hayes "What I Am"