yall can make fun of slam poems all you want but I’ve never felt more powerful than listening to women yell about their trauma to strangers
a lot of the difference between people who like slam poetry and people who hate slam poetry is comprised of whether you’ve heard slam poetry used constructively as a platform for the voices of the oppressed and those who would otherwise not have ways to express their emotions, or, alternatively, just heard it used by boring untalented white dudes who want a license to complain about how Smartphones Are Literally The Devil
im not saying “dont vote”, im saying “dont expect voting to save us”.
if hillary had won we would be in a better position now, comparatively, but would still be killing masses of ppl overseas, still deporting ppl and putting children in cages, still allowing corporations to ruin this planet, because the people benefitting from those policies are the same ppl funding the Democrats’ campaigns. and most liberals would be telling leftists talking about it to shut up and wait until after the next election, because the priority would be on making sure the Democrats win, cause of course the Republican candidate would still be way worse. voting is damage control, and im doing it, and i think you all should do it, but it’s not the only or even the main thing “the resistance” should be doing. it’s the only thing liberals tweet about because it’s the thing that directly benefits large portions of the ruling class, who also control most of the media and school systems where ppl get their info about politics. it’s playing a rigged game and acting like ppl who say they dont want to put all their faith in said rigged game are just utopian idiots who don’t see the big picture because they only want to vote for “morally pure” candidates🙄
we gotta vote and do direct action. we gotta join unions and organize strikes. we gotta create mutual aid networks. we gotta mobilize and start trying to produce the commodities necessary for life in our own communities (community gardens/permaculture lots for those lucky enough to own some land are a good place to start, as is learning about how to sew and make clothes, maybe some ideas on how to make bootleg medications and accommodations for our disabled comrades, etc). we gotta come up with more creative ways to protest that meaningfully shut down portions of society until our demands are met. we gotta make this country hostile to imperialist, racist Democrats as well as imperialist, racist Republicans.
slightly dehydrated, eating refried beans out of a can in an abandoned old metal trailer in the desert. My look can be described as “grungey power ranger shounen.” With me are four other people with similar aesthetics, dipping their feet in a duct-taped wading pool and sharing a cooler of popsicles. Against a cinder-block fire-pit that may or may not shelter multiple rattlesnakes leans a bright yellow vespa that may or may not be able to hover, and a goat is chewing on what’s left of a potted plant just outside the trailer’s front door. On an old radio with antenna longer than I am tall, tuned into an un-locatable radio station, my chemical romance crackles in and out. The government thinks I’m dead and my student loans are void. Things are good.
My blog except its not tumblr 