In Defense Of

In Defense Of is a short behind-the-scenes series of the thought process behind creating and compiling the manuscript for the chapbook, In Defense Of (Love) Poems. The poems were written in response to prompts provided by Sophia Dahlin in her generative workshop, The Possibility of Love.

Poetry is not the end all be all of activism, nor should it ever be. It can be the first step to bringing awareness to the struggles of your fellow people. Poetry helps in bringing visibility because the act of observation is an unavoidable skill needed in this literary art. Poetry asks: what do you see, what do you feel, and how are you going to convey this?

In Sophia Dahlin’s most recent generative workshop offering, students were provided many prompts. One of which begged the question of a world that supported love. This prompt was the entry point for me to touch on communities that need more visibility in my poem¹.

What does the world need to look like to support and abet love?

Palestine is free. 
Congo is free. 
Their children and
all children are never hungry.

Sudan is free.
We don’t need to hold flags
on television and run because
there is no one to chase us. 
They’re already cared for.
We all strive to do right
by our Creator.

I see my kaibigan, my kasamas
and we are masked beautiful,
N95, K95 emanating attraction
in pink or reds, all hearts. 

Lauvey croons in the streets,
someone’s speaker blasting.
We crowd together, yelling
laughing over the music and
food with tsinelas the ants
leading you in or out the door
while Lolo falls asleep, apo
tucked perfectly in his arms.

I ask you to take this question with you with whatever art you practice: how will you use your voice?

1. In the original poems, the stanzas would alternate between left- and right-aligned. For example, the stanzas starting with the lines “Sudan is free” and “Lauvey croons in the streets” are right-aligned while the others are left-aligned.