Portside

Washington state poet Jed Myers pays homage to the “one who’s left water” for the migrants crossing Arizona deserts facing “liberty or a cage.”

San Francisco poet Beau Beausoleil writes a poem each day during the current war in Gaza.

A long-lost elegy remains a tribute to an American volunteer in the Spanish Civil War.

Poet W.D. Ehrhart makes a riff off 13 blackbirds, in hopes of you all doing the right thing in November.

Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach knows more than a thing or two about Ukraine wars, way more to mark the passage of its second anniversary.

Susan Moser’s poetry addresses the “extinction crisis”—thousands of species disappear forever—as human life goes on in this world.

In this presidential election year, poet Carol Kanter issues an elegant warning of a certain candidate “assuming, accruing power.”

Mississippi poet Philip Kolin traces the history of enslavement since 1619, this extract from his new book White Terror, Black Trauma (Third World Press).

The only African American woman to serve in the Spanish Civil War, nurse Salaria Kea fought racism all of her life.

The poet C. Liegh McInnis pays homage to the great African American activist, Robert Moses who led the campaign for civil rights in 1960s Mississippi and later the Algebra Project committed to education equality.