Near the end of last year, we published a blog post in which we referenced an “alphabet of resistance.” This word list was created by the editors of Coda: Community Writing + Creative Work, a special section included in select issues of Community Literacy Journal. With their “alphabet of resistance,” the Coda editors identified terms the federal government has removed from its websites. The editors introduced the list with this statement: “We see the removal of these words as acts of harm that require us to resist. We aim to amplify these words because words—in general and these in particular—allow us to name our experiences, to critique systems of oppression, to engage in research, to imagine better worlds, to build relationships, and to create structures to bring better worlds into being.”
We agree! Therefore, with this blog post, we’re challenging PARH USA member poets—and poets everywhere—to use the Coda editors’ “alphabet of resistance” as a prompt for writing poems that confront racism, bigotry, and hate. Examples from the list are provided below, and you can access the entire list here.
advocacy
allyship
antiracism
Black
cultural differences
cultural sensitivity
disability
discrimination
disparity
diversity
equity
ethnicity
exclusion
feminism
gender-affirming care
gender-based violence
gender identity
hate speech
health disparity
immigrants
inclusion
indigenous community
inequality injustice
intersectionality
marginalized
men who have sex with men
mental health
minorities
nonbinary
oppression person-centered care
polarization
privilege
pronouns
racial inequality
sense of belonging
social justice
trauma
unconscious bias
Again, our federal government has purged from its websites these essentials of language. In doing so, it surely hopes to purge from our culture the principles of justice they address and to purge from our beings the will to fight for those principles. Let’s send a message: That will not happen! Instead, we will cement in our nation’s psyche the terms and everything they communicate by using our art to amplify them.
Ideas for creating poetry from this “alphabet of resistance” include attempting to use as many terms as possible in one poem, applying repetition throughout a poem to emphasize a particular term, using several terms in a nested poem that accentuates the uniqueness of each and interconnectedness of all, letting a term lead you to write in a particular form (e.g., intersectionality might inspire a sestina or a contrapuntal poem, exclusion a blackout poem), or developing a poem around a theme from the Coda editors’ statement (e.g., words that allow us to imagine better worlds). Whatever direction you take the terms, the outcome will be a show of resistance against an act of harm perpetrated by our government. To share that show of resistance, consider submitting your poem for potential publication on the PARH USA Featured Poem page. You must be a member to submit poems to us, so be sure to sign up first on our membership page.