Misrepresented People: Poetic Responses to Trump's America

by María Isabel Alvarez (editor), Dante Di Stefano (Editor)

The poets anthologized in Misrepresented Poetic Responses to Trump's America bear witness to, rage against, and defy the misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and authoritarian impulses that have always surrounded us, but that are incarnated in the 45th president. At a time when large swaths of the nation, and of the world, have succumbed to a reality television ontology, the poems collected in this volume offer the terra firma of imaginative empathy only available to us through poetry. This anthology contains work from a variety of aesthetic stances, from poets whose personal backgrounds reflect the vibrant multiplicity of our democratic vistas at their most resplendent. These voices counter alternative facts and fake news with the earned communion and the restorative utterance of the lyric and of the narrative. Proceeds from this anthology will be donated to The National Immigration Law Center. Contributors Hanif Abdurraqib - Kaveh Akbar - María Isabel Alvarez - Eloisa Amezcua - Nin Andrews William Archila - Fatimah Asghar - Chaun Ballard - Zeina Hashem Beck - Bruce Bennett Rosebud Ben-Oni - Brian Brodeur - Joel Brouwer - Nickole Brown - Tina Cane Cortney Lamar Charleston - Jim Daniels - Kyle Dargan - Danielle Cadena Deulen - Natalie Diaz Dante Di Stefano - celeste doaks - Martín Espada - Joshua Jennifer Espinosa - Blas Falconer Kate Falvey - Brian Fanelli - Ariel Francisco - Christine Gelineau - Maria Mazziotti Gillan Jennifer Givhan - Tony Gloeggler - Ruth Goring - Sonia Greenfield - George Guida Luke Hankins - David Hernandez - Luther Hughes - Kenan Ince - Maria Melendez Kelson Ruth Ellen Kocher - Dana Levin - Timothy Liu - Denise Low - George Ella Lyon J. Michael Martinez - Shane McCrae - Sjohnna McCray - Erika Meitner - Rajiv Mohabir Faisal Mohyuddin - Kamilah Aisha Moon - Abby E. Murray - Susan Nguyen - Matthew Olzmann Annette Oxindine - Gregory Pardlo - Craig Santos Perez - Xandria Phillips - Kevin Prufer Dean Rader - Stella Vinitchi Radulescu - Julian Randall - Camille Rankine Alexandra Lytton Regalado - Alison C. Rollins - Alberto Ríos - Liz Rosenberg Nicole Santalucia - sam sax - Lauren Marie Schmidt - Scherezade Siobhan Raena Shirali - Clint Smith - Patricia Smith - Maggie Smith - Christian Teresi Leah Tieger - Vincent Toro - Leah Umansky - Emily Vogel - Joe Weil Jameka Williams - Phillip B. Williams - Jane Wong - Javier Zamora

Genres: Poetry

324 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2018

Reviews

[Bertha]

(3.5) The voices that need to be heard, emotional and raw words from poets that are often not listened to enough.

We Are of a Tribe
We plant seeds in the ground And dreams in the sky,
Hoping that, someday, the roots of one Will meet the upstretched limbs of the other.
It has not happened yet.
We share the sky, all of us, the whole world:
Together, we are a tribe of eyes that look upward, Even as we stand on uncertain ground.
The earth beneath us moves, quiet and wild, Its boundaries shifting, its muscles wavering.
The dream of sky is indifferent to all this, Impervious to borders, fences, reservations.
The sky is our common home, the place we all live.
There we are in the world together.
The dream of sky requires no passport.
Blue will not be fenced. Blue will not be a crime.
Look up. Stay awhile. Let your breathing slow.
Know that you always have a home here.

[jen]

this one took me a while, am wanting to do more than stomach it re: trump america
am glad for tones that are more than defiant/indignant, though those were good too

pocketed: kaveh akbar, nickole brown, danielle cadena deulen, natalie diaz, phillip b williams, kevin prufer