“The pen is mightier than the sword!”― Edward Bulwer-LyttonThere is power in words and how we use them. I often write poems about social injustices and needed social change. In this day and age there is plenty of fodder for it, women's rights, LGBT, racism in America, child abuse, sexual abuse, genocide, the Middle East, Religion, and I could go on.
Many poets in history/herstory have fought for change through their words on the page, through their poetry.
Here are a few I found on Poems of Protest and Revolution.
- Walt Whitman, “To a Foil’d European Revolutionaire” (1881)
- Paul Laurence Dunbar, “The Haunted Oak” (1903)
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “Protest” (1916)
- Carl Sandburg, “I Am the People, the Mob” (1916)
Below you will find more recent women poets of our time.
One of the most influential Feminist Poets of this century, Adrienne Rich said, "The mother's battle for her child with sickness, with poverty, with war, with all the forces of exploitation and callousness that cheapen human life needs to become a common human battle, waged in love and in the passion for survival."You can find the 10 Feminist Poets You Should Know here that include:
- Maya Angelou
- Anne Waldman
- Carol Ann Duffy
- Margaret Atwood
- Lyn Hejinian
- Alice Walker
- Katha Pollitt
- Susan Howe
- Carolyn Kizer
- Marge Piercy
All poets with a passion for changing the world through poetry.
Poetry Prompts:
When was the last time you took a risk for something you believed in? How do you use your words? What are you creating in the world with your poetry? Choose one or all of these questions and Free write for ten minutes.
Photo by Morgan Dragonwillow |
Word Prompts:
RiskRevolutionaryReawakenReclaiming
Feeling Words:
CourageousEnergeticLiberatedSpirited
Watch (and dance) to this video to help motivate your writing.
This is day four here at OctPoWriMo, how are you doing so far? Are you writing daily?
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FIRST #OctPoWriMo WINNER OF WILD WOMAN WAKING - STEPH BETH NICKELS! Congratulate her on Twitter for winning! @StephBethNickel
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You can find her on Google+
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I engaged with my favorite revolutionary overnight and came up with these words this morning which I will use in a writing workshop I am leading later. My favorite revolutionary? The Tankman from Tianamen Square. I could feel him in my chest as I wrote and published my poem first on "the wrong" blog. There are times our poems simply shout, "Get me out there!" This was one of them.
ReplyDeleteI love it when a poem insists on landing on the page! Thanks Julie!
DeleteA fellow poet did a fabulous reclaim (and allowed me to share her piece). She reclaims the c-word: http://alilblack.blogspot.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteLovely Angela, Thank you!
DeleteI'm so glad I remembered to join all of you again this year. I look forward to reading many wonderful poems in the days to come. (I've included my first four poems in a single post. I'll try to keep up from here on in. :D)
ReplyDeleteGlad to have you along as well and congratulations on winning Wild Woman Waking!
DeleteI don't have a blog to link to (I'm more an appreciator than a writer!) But this is what I wrote on Octpowrimo 4
ReplyDeleteI've had enough, I've had enough,
today can go away and leave me
better rested, better tempered
fit to start another day, I've had enough.
You have had enough of me?
and I can go away and leave you
playing, watching noisy fairy
things that make my head fair
fizz, I want to leave them
with the baddy so their
t-t-t-tinkling
stops
But afterwards we swam and saw the sun set,
Lords of flies flew in cushioned dens,
and now the dark is down I feel the promise
of the quiet, the quiet un-day night.
Love that last line, "the quiet un-day night." Thanks for sharing that Lisa!
Delete