“We realize that the only people who care enough about us to work consistently for our liberation are us. Our politics evolve from a healthy love for ourselves, our sisters and our community which allows us to continue our struggle and work.”
Write a poem for someone you love using at least 4 of the words in the above passage.
Post your poems as comments below or email us at brokenbeautifulpress@gmail.com!
For example radical anti-racist educator Tema Okun wrote the following poem for her students:
Tema Okun
Combahee Love
We realize
that in America
the right to be uninformed
is holy ground.
This is a love letter to us, then,
the only people who struggle consistently
to be so careless with our love.
I am witness to how we revel in our lousy politics.
I wish for us instead
a healthy love,
one to usher in our liberation
from ourselves and
into community, into enough.
-Tema Okun November 2008
Aiden Riley Graham
And radical archivist and trans-activist Aiden Riley Graham wrote this amazing poem for his comrade Noah Blose:
Why we’re so important to me…
When I feel unseen by the rest of the world, you see me
A mirror to find myself in
Walks toward liberation found in our talks
Simple-complex conversations
Grounding me in love and compassion,
Shaking me from everyday painful reactions
Learning to love myself, through loving you
Replacing individual failed expectations
With dreams of collective possibility,
Painful shared rememberings
Bring our communal struggle into relief
Standing “Eye to Eye” in the spirit of Audre
We’re everything we need to be
The only ones
And only one of many
A transformative justice we forge
Daily, weekly, monthly
They’re just phone conversations
And oh so much more
– Aiden Graham to Noah Blose
Combahee Survival 