May Day Poetry of Protest

Protest poetry is a poetry of dissent. It exists to reveal what those in power seek to hide, to criticize and challenge, and to protest and resist established values and ideas. In appreciation of the May Day activists who worked to better working conditions in America, we will read, discuss, and write protest poems.

Prompt:

Time yourself as you write in some way (with a timer, the length of a song, or the length of a page). Write for roughly 10 minutes in response to the following prompt. Try to write for the whole time, without stopping, in sentences, with no line breaks. Work to get all of your thoughts on the page, without worrying about what you are writing, or how. It is encouraged to follow wherever your mind leads.

For two minutes, write a list of things you would change about the world if you could. Select one issue that you have personal experience with and focus on that for the rest of the freewrite.

Protest Poems to Read:

• Reginald Dwayne Betts, “When I Think of Tamir Rice While Driving”
• Gwendolyn Brooks, “RIOT”
• Martín Espada, “The Sign in My Father's Hands”
• June Jordan, “Poem about My Rights”
• Ilya Kaminsky, “We Lived Happily During the War”
• Audre Lorde, “Power”
• Solmaz Sharif, “The Master's House”
• Layli Long Soldier, “WHEREAS”
• Timothy Yu, “Chinese Silence No. 22”

Assignment:
Write a protest poem, using one of the poems about as a model. Make sure to describe and explore your experience, reveal what might be hidden to others, and challenge related values or structures.