Krista Lee Hanson – Writers Resist

Welcome to Writers Resist the Summer 2026 Issue

This 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 nature’s invasives, in Danita Dodson’s poem, to raging against ICE, in Karen Crawford’s spoken word poem, these creations ring the truth, the despair, the joy, the hope. And we hope you find all this as you make your way through the summer of 2026.

The virtual reading for this issue is on Saturday 11 July at 5:00 pm PACIFIC. Please email us at writersresist@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

Now, a little note from our publisher: I admit defeat; YouTube and I are not friends. While I seek absolution from the literary gods and our contributors who’ve been asking to see their recorded readings, I’m praying for someone who will teach me how to post our readings on YouTube. I have the basics (sort of), but they need those opening and closing title slide thingies, and more patience than I’ve been able to muster. If someone will take pity and walk me through the process, I will be exceedingly grateful. If you’re out there, please send me an email at kbgressitt@gmail.com.

Finally, and most important, Writers Resist the Summer of 2026:

Invasives by Danita Dodson

Goodbye and Good Riddance by Carolyn Gevinski

Deliverance by Phyllis Wax

13 Ways of Looking at Wicked by Suzanne Edison

Insurance Approved by Samantha Lucia

CASE FILE #1776″ The Murder of Lady Liberty by Daniel P. Douglas

astomatous by Victoria Reyes

Flying Free by Marc Audet

The In-Between by Krista Lee Hanson

The Law by Anne Reiner

The Boy by Raima Larter

Fog of War by Laura Buxbaum

How to Ignite Polite Fires by Em Arata-Berkel

In the Unlikely Event by Rebecca Watkins

While Europe Was Burning by Tytti Heikkinen

Someone Will Be Right With You by Laura Grace Weldon

Fruit Flies by Deborrah Corr

No Quarter by Julie Gard

Two Poems by Erin Vaughn

Dear Colleague: by Shannon Frost Greenstein

To the League of Extraordinary Ladies by Sarah Gane Burton

They Forget by Mandy Prell

Something So Small by Phebe Jewell

The Janus of Freedom by D. Edgar Cook

To those out there with hope by Catherine Zickgraf

Winter in Certain American Cities by Alina Zollfrank

Unbroken by Karen Crawford

Photo credit: K-B Gressitt.

A Note from Writers Resist
Thank you for reading! If you appreciate creative resistance and would like to support it, you can make a small, medium or large donation to Writers Resist on our Give a Sawbuck page.

The In-Between

By Krista Lee Hanson

For Renée Nicole Good

You said your soul lived, perhaps,
in-between your pancreas & large intestine.

My soul has been skittish,
these days, hiding, perhaps
in-between my cranium &
cervical spine, under hunched shoulders
bracing for the next disaster,

but your violent
murder,
the sudden snuffing of your life,
your mother-poet light,

the horror of it has shaken me,
rattled something loose,

and in the aftermath my soul has spread
wide as a lake on a windless day,
clear as this winter breath,
fully inhabiting my gut with the knowing:

we are many millions more than
mercenaries and despots,
we the people, who threaten the regime by loving
the things they cannot sell us: our neighbors,
friends and strangers, children and their teachers,
the ones they have insisted are other,

and, also, the migrating birds,
the coyotes and beavers,
the trees with their secret language,
their souls telling stories in the soil,

and the hope that comes,
every single sunrise, that our love
and solidarity is magnetic,
drawing more and more
people into our circles.

You wrote about sacred texts,
wondered about science and
faith meeting, asked if those religions
could be as gentle as your mother,
sliding long hairs behind your ear

and now we know your mother
is both tender and fierce,
your wife, too, speaking your name,
calling you baby—
drive, baby, drive

& now telling the world
about your Goodness.

Krista Lee Hanson (she/her) lives in Seattle, Washington, home of the Coast Salish people, with her partner and two children. Krista’s writing has appeared in The Rumpus, The Normal School, Rad Families, A Celebration and other publications. She has been a finalist for CRAFT’s Flash Nonfiction prize, and she was nominated for the 2025 Pushcart Best of Small Presses prize. Currently, Krista is writing a memoir about disability and complex care, and organizing with her neighbors to build webs of community care. Visit her website at kristaleehanson.com.

Poet’s Note: This poem is in response to On Learning to Dissect a Fetal Pig, by Renee Good (previously Renee Nicole Macklin).

Photo credit: Diana via a Creative Commons license.