Writing is an act of resistance
-
Welcome to Writers Resist Fall 2026
Jane Frances Gilles, Deanna Altomara, Ashley Mace Havird, Poetry, olive bly, Narrative nonfiction, Mitch Roshannon, Fiction, Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff, Writers Resist, Isla Laust, Debbie Hall, Tushar Sen, Jennifer Karp, Minnie Bartlett, Mia Leonin, Nana T. Baffour-Awuah, Elizabeth B. Morse, Beck O’Leary, Chelsie Zuccollo, Joycelyn ZhangThis issue was hard to build. Hard, because the works herein are such powerful representations of the brutal conflicts through which we are slogging, seemingly ever increasing. Still, such vivid reminders are sometimes gifts. These works reflect 27 saviors distributing words as lifesavers. From our own Debbie Hall’s conflicted photograph, “Found Art,” to the many…
-
Found Art by Debbie Hall
Artist’s Statement My twin creative passions are poetry and photography. Both pursuits involve close attention and discovery—new ways of seeing and understanding. I’ve always been fond of juxtaposition in my writing and in the visual art of photography. In this photo of the back of a heavily etched restroom stall door, I was struck by the seemingly…
-
Two Poems by Marcy Rae Henry
the last poem in Spanglish i feel somebody creeping up behind mein English. looking for land. maybe just earrings.maybe all the property from Park Placeto St. James. maybe just me.i wanted to say no in their languagewanted to say: poesía.pero poetry is just playin.i am well aware of my privilege on paper.that is where i…
-
Cost of Living
Poetry, Nana T. Baffour-Awuah, cost of living, inflation, inequitable pay, hgih cost of health insurance, trump beef importsBy Nana T. Baffour-Awuah I crush my soul and sell it for less than $3,500It costs $132 to make it across town to that job I hateFood swallows $275 before I have tasted itThe IRS demands $839 like a thief with moralsI must cough up $1,600 for the roach-box I have stuffed my entire world…
-
Testifying with My Daughter Against Missouri SB597*
David Tager, bathroom bills, Missouri SB597, Marsha P Johnson, Sylva Rivera, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Poetry, transphobiaBy David Tager My pink-haired teen’s story quivers, thins to a plea, helpless.Senators frost like glass, pick lint from suits, render words helpless. Bored chins cede the mic: a matronly lawmaker probes my childon bathrooms, asks about her genitals. We suck breath, helpless. A gavel pounds out protest, insists my child is a threat otherdaughters…
-
After Roe Was Repealed
By Jennifer Karp Breasts —as if syllables of flesh rewrote the law, a pulse hammeredin DNA scrawled in an alphabet that cannot be read. Our drums go forth, persist. We spit teethinto the ballot box, heels cracking on broken regulations, carry on, fall, marrow pounding, lineage cheering under skin.As if policy bent around a body too curved for…
-
Cherry Blossoms
Fiction, transgender rights, oppression, human rights, repression, Beck O’Leary, de-escalation deviceBy Beck O’Leary (CW: Contains significant transphobia and gun violence in a school setting) The dress had a sweetheart neckline and delicate satiny sleeves that rested just off the mannequin’s shoulders. The bodice was white and fitted, and the skirt was padded by at least two layers of ruffled lining. Little pink flowers decorated the…
-
EXPO Marker
By Jennifer Elise Wang In memory of Dr. Refaat Alareer You say your only weapon is an EXPO markerThat you could throw in the face of your oppressors,But those cowards could not even look at your faceWhen they took away your life and your family’s.I wonder how soldiers and leaders could fearA single person putting…
-
Girl (an erasure*)
By Elizabeth Mercurio How few centuries have let women be girls first –Brenda Shaughnessy One fourteen-year-old girl led police to start investigation of Epstein in 2005 defendant paid for massage recruiter girl was given $200 for having brought the girl to defendant she was too emotional girl brought a classmate to defendant’s home to perform…