It’s time for another poetry feature! It’s been a while since the last time we did one of these, so we’d like to start by drawing some attention to the work done in previous years. We always have wonderful and thought-provoking submissions, so consider taking some time to look through the existing catalogue, which can be found here: May 2019, Fall 2020.

Also note that, as in previous years, this project is inspired by the anarchist tradition of May Day remembrance, in which we celebrate and mourn the lives of those who came before and who fought and sacrificed to advance the cause of freedom. Though the forces of power have always sought to bury our struggle, the words we write and the fragments of memory we pass down to future generations are (and have always been) the seeds from which liberty is grown.

So let us take this opportunity to appreciate the fruit of our historical struggle, mourn those that we’ve lost, and plant ourselves once more into the soil.

This time, we’re kicking things off with a lead poem titled “Humankind” by our new team member Joshua Sparrow. We hope that this piece, and whatever discussion is to be had around it, should offer an intriguing starting point for further poetic enquiries:

Humankind

Are we a humankind
Or something kinda human?
Is it human to feel strange
Or just some personal confusion?
Are we the culmination
Of some kind of evolution?
Is there kindness left at all
For all the transient mutations?

Are the humans kind
Or does no one really know them?
Is it stranger not to find
That you’re a phony homosapien?
Do you ever get the notion
That we are no true relation?
Are there any humans here
Or just some distant generation?

In Joshua’s words:

In this poem, I intend to convey a radical approach to the concept of humanity, suggesting that while our species has historically expressed great concern over to whom this and other categories are applied, there may after all be no easy and universally-applicable answers. It also proposes that perhaps this pre-occupation with “kind-ness” as in: the quality of belonging to a particular category, should not be unmoored from our commitment to “kindness” as in: the quality of being compassionate to one another regardless of classification. As anarchists it is our duty not to merely oppose the segregation and domination of humans over one another through the creation of classes, but also the essentialistic and fatalistic narratives which feed into the manufacture and worship of those distinctions. Let us acknowledge our diversity, and above all practice compassion and tolerance towards our fellow humans, pre-humans, post-humans, non-humans, and everything in between.

Please feel free to explore this prompt however you see fit. We anticipate and look forward to receiving a variety of ideas and approaches, as we have in previous years. We are also on the lookout for creative ways to open up future poetry features, so do let us know if you have a suggestion to offer!

Submit poems for consideration at editor@c4ss.org.

We will accept submissions until the end of May and will publish accepted poems on a rolling basis. As always, first-time writers receive $25 for an accepted piece, and returning writers receive $15.