Portside

In "Jerusalem," William Blake vowed to fight the 'dark Satanic Mills' of early capitalism. Answering Blake, poet Mary Mackey recognizes contemporary capitalism's failures, but vows to embrace what's still good in life, not just belabor what's awful.

An oldy but a goldy. Poet, philosopher, artist and mystic, William Blake offers us a vision of the struggle to build a peaceful and just society, an early skirmisher in the fight against capitalism. Check out those 'dark Satanic Mills.'

Riffing on an ancient myth, poet Alan Dugan finds a lesson applicable to our current predicament.

Taking George Orwell's classic text, 1984, as her foundation, poet Rebecca Foust asks where the current regime is taking us.

Poet Sonia Sanchez asks the obvious question: man or beast?

Poet and environmentalist Charles Finn imagines a regime that respects the world and all its creatures.

Writing in 1968, poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser addresses the struggle to imagine and build a more humane world.

California poet Anita Barrows writes: "When the genocide began I started writing daily notes. I felt the urgency to document these tragedies in a whole poem every day, and that is what I will do until the genocide ends. I intend to keep writing."

Taking George Orwell's classic text, 1984, as her foundation, poet Rebecca Foust casts a cold eye on the pronatalism of today's religious conservatives.

Poet Charlotte Muse knows this life is fleeting, and yet it is the sweetest comfort in the face of political and social chaos.