Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment
Pithy and powerful, poetry is a popular art form at protests and rallies. From the civil rights and women’s liberation movements to Black Lives Matter, poetry is commanding enough to gather crowds in a city square and compact enough to demand attention on social media. Speaking truth to power remains a crucial role of the poet in the face of political and media rhetoric designed to obscure, manipulate, or worse. The selection of poems below call out and talk back to the inhumane forces that threaten from above. They expose grim truths, raise consciousness, and build united fronts. Some insist, as Langston Hughes writes, “That all these walls oppression builds / Will have to go!” Others seek ways to actively “make peace,” as Denise Levertov implores, suggesting that “each act of living” might cultivate collective resistance. All rail against complacency and demonstrate why poetry is necessary and sought after in moments of political crisis.
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Langston Hughes
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Maya Angelou
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Denise Levertov
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Muriel Rukeyser
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Gwendolyn Brooks
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Blas Manuel De Luna
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Allen Ginsberg
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Claude McKay
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Adrienne Rich
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Zbigniew Herbert
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Danez Smith
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Heather McHugh
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Harryette Mullen
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Tato Laviera
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Emanuel Xavier
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June Jordan
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Hayan Charara
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Nikki Giovanni
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Jill McDonough
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Maria Melendez Kelson
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Ilya Kaminsky
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Yusef Komunyakaa
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Tino Villanueva
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Juliana Spahr
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Walt Whitman
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James Baldwin
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Maya Angelou
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William E. Stafford
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Lenelle Moïse
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Emmy Pérez
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Margaret Walker
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William Blake
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Juan Felipe Herrera
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Yehuda Amichai
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Nathalie Handal
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Alice Notley
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Anne Waldman
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Philip Levine
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Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
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Martín Espada
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William E. Stafford
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Etheridge Knight
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Sun Yung Shin
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Gregory Corso
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Kenneth Patchen
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Haki R. Madhubuti
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David Roderick
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Patricia Smith
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Alli Warren
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Marilyn Dumont
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Laura Da’
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Luis J. Rodríguez
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Gina Myers
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Stephanie Burt
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Michael Klein
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Nick Arnold
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Claude McKay
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Juan Felipe Herrera
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Julian Talamantez Brolaski
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Elizabeth Alexander
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dg nanouk okpik
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Karenne Wood
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Sonia Sanchez
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Ruben Quesada
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Gwen Nell Westerman
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Reginald Dwayne Betts
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Tsitsi Ella Jaji
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Matthew Olzmann
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David Lau
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Craig Santos Perez
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Gwendolyn Brooks