Nazelah Jamison
the next racist situation
i find myself in
i'm throwing a throat punch
not because i'm violent

i'm a small black girl
emphasis on small
emphasis on black
emphasis on girl

i've never thrown a punch in my life
but i'm tired of talking
i'm tired of explaining
i'm tired of pleading
being behind you
beneath you, besides
you never listen anyway

perhaps a chop to the windpipe will
curb your justification
your immediate physical pain may
broaden your perspective
if i give you something to cry about
you might use your tears more wisely
choose your words
and talk to your peers

my patience and endurance
has not changed your people's perception
your guilt makes you
deny your tribe when
called to accountability

white people are detrimental to brown health
conversations with you are not
saving my life
your good intentions do not protect

my neck and chest

a throat punch is not a lynching
i just wanna shut you up
not kill you

one person can make a difference
this is my new personal revolution
cause and effect, instant means to an end
warn all your friends
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Combined head shots of Alicia Ostriker and Erika Meitner
"A Foot in Two (or Multiple) Worlds"

Alicia Ostriker and Erika Meitner sit down for a generation-bridging conversation with critic and scholar, Shoshana Olidort, in which they dissect "the intersections of poetry, feminism, motherhood, and Jewish identity."

via LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS
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Cover of Cesar Vallejo's Complete Posthumous Poetry
What Sparks Poetry:
Sandra Lim on Self-Interrogation


"I don’t read this poem and think of the practical relevance or irrelevance of poetry, but I do get the sense of being both cursed and culpable from the way Vallejo renders conscious (and consciousness of) suffering. It may seem strange to say that the poem feels like a chance to notice when it expresses so much restless melancholy, but the speaker’s honesty with his doubts keeps his sense of compassion from hardening into self-congratulation."
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