Writing is an act of resistance
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Welcome to Writers Resist the Summer 2026 Issue
Daniel P. Douglas, Sarah Gane Burton, Writers Resist, Samantha Lucia, Mandy Prell, Phyllis Wax, Marc Audet, Phebe Prell, Karen Crawford, Krista Lee Hanson, Anne Reiner, Shannon Frost Greenstein, Laura Buxbaum, Danita Dodson, Em Arata-Berkel, Suzanne Edison, Tytti Heikkinen, Victoria Reyes, Deborrah Corr, Carolyn Gevinski, Julie Gard, Rebecca Watkins, Erin Vaughn, Laura Grace WeldonThis is Writers Resist‘s tenth summer, and this issue is one of our most challenging—not solely due to its size. Perhaps it’s the prolonged exposure to putrid politicians (a putrescence of politicians, if you’ve an affinity for terms of venery) that has inspired the constellation of passions reflected in the issue. From the analogies in…
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Invasives
Poetry, Immigration, white supremacy, Danita Dodson, anti-war, wellbeing, anti-ICE, voting rights actBy Danita Dodson Better the autumn olive growing wild, the kudzu draggingbarns back into earth, the honeysuckle chokingfenceposts—than the fever of a nation shuttering its gates tohuman dreams. Better the Johnson grass towering overbarbed wire, the Hungarian brome in ditches, the Nepalesebrowntop flaring through fallow fields—than the metalmouths of B-2s dropped by a madman. Better…
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Goodbye and Good Riddance
abortion, reproductive justice, prose poetry, keep abortion legal safe and accessible, Carolyn Gevinski, clinic protestersBy Carolyn Gevinski This is not Polly’s first murder, Polly thinks. Malbec blood spills between her fingers. But this is the first time she feels for what she’s done. Guilt, in every crevice of her body. Shards of remorse, glass between her thighs. It’s a stupid thought, but she thinks it anyway. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye.…
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Deliverance
By Phyllis Wax Where is the angelwho will save us? Not in masked thugs who descend on ordinary people and whisk them away in unmarked cars Not in civil servants who, to keep their jobs, bend to the boss’s demands Not in political appointees who think any law can be broken …
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13 Ways of Looking at Wicked
clean energy, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America, White privilege, sex and gender, Poetry, equal opportunity victim, Immigration, gender identity, DEI, Suzanne Edison, afabBy Suzanne Edison All words in italics come from at least one federal agency’s list of “woke” terms that need to be avoided—NYTimes, 11 March 2025 I.Born in the garden, a sanctuary. No barriers and all beings had a sense of belonging. II.Assigned at birth, her gender, female. Though perhaps transgender . . . you…
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Insurance Approved
By Samantha Lucia I said yes to permanence at 27They called it ESSURE They called it SAFE Two metal coilsthreadedinto fallopian tubeslike promises — like policy market-vetted APPROVEDNo incisionsIn-office procedure Try coilsthrust rawinto tubesunanesthetized Women’s pain thresholds Twelve years ofmy body screaming,“STOP!” And physicians saying,“PROVE IT.” The coils scarred over — created blockagesleaked nickel into unwilling tissue Inflammation…
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CASE FILE #1776: The Murder of Lady Liberty
Daniel P. Douglas, Phil and Paul Garver, Statue of Liberty, judgment is coming, Fiction, free press, ICEBy Daniel P. Douglas New York Police Department – Homicide DivisionDetective Joseph “Joe” Law, Badge #1886October 2025 The call came in at 3:47 AM on a Tuesday that felt like the end of the world’s longest hangover. Rain pounded Manhattan, each drop a reminder that even heaven had given up trying to wash this place…
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astomatous
Victoria Reyes, Mahmoud Khalil, free Palestine, LaSalle Detention Center, Poetry, Immigration, free speech, ICEBy Victoria Reyes for Mahmoud Khalil itstartedoffanordinaryday. suddenly:accosted. handcuffed.kidnapped. withoutawarrant &withholdingtheirnames, ICEagents tearyou fromyourdoctor wife,8monthspregnant, filmingtheordeal.secretedtoa Louisianabunker, you’regivennopillow tolaydownyourhead, nocloaktostaveoffthecold, missingthebirth ofyourchild. forwhat longingforaFreePalestine?anendtogenocide? youareremindedofSyria. Werecall genocide &enslavement asU.S.origins. thereisnofreespeech— only the rich have mouths. Victoria Reyes (she/her) is a writer, poet, and scholar. She’s also the author of Global Borderlands: Fantasy, Violence, and Empire…
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Flying Free
By Marc Audet Lake Whitney shivers as the winter wind descends upon us from the Canadian Arctic. I pause my walk and search for the Canada Geese that visit these waters. They are back this morning, floating some distance away in composed tranquility, hardly noticing me. To think that they dare to cross our northern…