Tag: Nana T. Baffour-Awuah

Welcome to Writers Resist Fall 2026

This 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 pieces demanding trans justice to the exultation of calls to action, they lend hope. Hope, rage, love, humor. We need them all to sustain the resistance. And, perhaps, we might receive some resolution when U.S. voters cast their values on 03 November.

In the meantime, as the image above demands, borrowed from Chelsie Zuccollo’s excellent call to action in “Smash, Build, Rise,” we must—and we will continue to—RISE UP.

On Saturday 14 November at 5:00 pm PACIFIC, we will host this issue’s virtual reading, Writers Resist Reads, at which we envision a bit of celebrating. Please email us at writersresist@gmail.com for the Zoom link.

And so, we welcome you to our hard and powerful Writers Resist Fall 2026. Please read and share your thoughts with these brilliant resisters.

Found Art by Debbie Hall

Two Poems by Marcy Rae Henry

Cost of Living by Nana T. Baffour-Awuah

Testifying with My Daughter Against Missouri SB597 by David Tager

After Roe Was Repealed by Jennifer Karp

Cherry Blossoms by Beck O’Leary

EXPO Marker by Jennifer Elise Wang

Girl (an erasure) by Elizabeth Mercurio

My Rape Wasn’t a Choice by Alberto Lau-Chang

Lemonading by Victoria Melekian

Letter to Self by Joycelyn Zhang

Monarch by Deanna Altomara

transcription by olive bly

On Viewing the Porn Trading Cards Catalogue (1925–2025) by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

If Only There Were No Trans Kids by Mitch Roshannon

Silence by Isla Laust

Three Poems by Tushar Sen

Coincidence by Minnie Bartlett

Two Poems by Mia Leonin

The Shirt by Elizabeth B. Morse

Smash, Build, Rise by Chelsie Zuccollo

Aunt Annie’s Recipe for the Resistance by Jane Frances Gilles

“There Will Be Casualties” by Ashley Mace Havird

Static Between the Folding Tables by Fendy S. Tulodo

To my father, whose mother tongue is a village dialect by Anonymous

The Most Radical Protest Right Now Is Handmade by Amanda Jackson

Two Poems by Susanna Lang

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.

Cost of Living

By Nana T. Baffour-Awuah

I crush my soul and sell it for less than $3,500
It costs $132 to make it across town to that job I hate
Food swallows $275 before I have tasted it
The IRS demands $839 like a thief with morals
I must cough up $1,600 for the roach-box I have stuffed my entire world into
And then $218 is sacrificed at the altar of necessities utilities
I can’t afford to dream of the $54 steak I serve strangers every day
The $8 lattes from the cafe next door are out of my reach
And all of the $187 I pay to insure my health can barely buy me hope
So, each month, I tally up my total:         
                                                        a cent of hope I cling to
                                                        a dime of despair I cannot discard
                                                        a wallet full of fear, ravenous
                                                        a ballot of rage, waiting to be cast

Nana T. Baffour-Awuah (he/him) is a Ghanaian writer and editor currently based in New York. His poems, short stories, and essays have been published in Brittle Paper, Chronogram, Gotham Literature, North Meridian Review, HuffPost, Sierra Nevada Review, and elsewhere. His work has been anthologized, most recently in Creative Stillness (Gatekeeper Press, 2026) and Smitten with the Written (Arcana Poetry Press, 2026) and has also been longlisted for the Coppice Prize. He edits for The Hummingbird and reads for Callaloo. Nana is working on his first book. Follow him on Instagram: @whatnanawrote.

Photo credit: Photo by Anne Preble on Unsplash.

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.