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.

13 Ways of Looking at Wicked

By 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 know, Adam’s rib, etc.

III.
Her name, Eve, on the cusp of . . . with Hebrew roots, signified life.   Oh, but the trauma

IV.
of knowledge,                      as if pregnant with privilege,                      was deemed a disability

V.
warranting exclusion.

VI.
Her clean energy sex with Adam, i.e. people + uterus = key populations + a brimming bag of pronouns

VII.
increased diversity.             She wandered. An immigrant.                    Was she Black or brown?

VIII.
Racial identity indeterminate.   Equal opportunity victims declare her cultural heritage colorless, as this page.

IX.
(From a scientific perspective, white (light) is all-inclusive of the diverse colors of the visible spectrum.)

X.
Science, expendable, as the Gulf of Mexico—a victim of brain disparity

XI.
from undervalued, biologically male, stereotypes, prolific as climate crises.

XII.
These systemic prostitutes advocate

XIII.
altars to oppression.


Suzanne Edison’s book, Since the House Is Burning, was published by MoonPath Press in 2022. Her poetry can be found in The Missouri Review, Verse Daily, Whale Road Review, Lily Poetry Review, MER, and SWWIM Daily. Her poetry had also been recognized as finalists in Naugatuck River Review and RockPaperPoems. She lives in Seattle, and her website is at www.seedison.com.

Photo credit: Terence Faircloth via a Creative Commons license.


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.