"I found the book fascinating. When I sat down to read, I found I literally did not want to put it down. In this era of 'healing spirituality' and discussions of 'self identity' and 'self expression,' there are many people who wonder about the place of politics and activism. This book takes on the task of unabashedly drawing connections between cultural work and political work. I don't know of any volume that brings so many approaches together in a meaningful way." — Camilla Townsend, Colgate University

"In the beautifully written introduction, the editors provide an insightful analysis of the context in which cultural activism is produced and experienced today. Their explanation of terms such as 'resistance,' 'culture,' and 'activism' are useful for the scholar as well as the student. Though brief, the introduction goes to the heart of many of the issues and themes in contemporary cultural activism: issues such as writing and image-making (production), pedagogy (teaching and learning), reading (reception), and collaboration; themes such as language, location, history and memory, the body, mourning and loss, intimacy, and connection.

"I found this book to be one of the most interesting and engaging literary-artistic collections I've ever read. Many times while reading, I found myself lingering over passages so as to savor each and every word. There are few collections in this field that provide the range of genre and depth of issues and themes identified by the editors of Cultural Activisms." — Michelle Meyers, Independent Scholar

Acknowledgments

Introduction

I. Winged Tongues

Pauline Kaldas
Bird Lessons
In Line, Waiting
In the Park

Regie Cabico
gameboy
The Trick

Cathy Daley
Live Girls

Pat Parker
Untitled
For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend

Olivia Gude
Marcus Akinlana
Beatriz Santiago Munoz
Innovators and Elders: Painting in the Streets

Joanna Kadi
Moving from Cultural Appropriation toward Ethical Cultural Connections

Carlos J. Serrano
Latino Chess
Visit with Doc to Find My Identity

II. Passages

Britt Alice Coles
Drawing on Myself

Marcia Douglas
The Ascania Docks in Soughampton, circa 1955

Charles Peterson
A Long Way from Home

Myra Love
Reality's Friends

Susanne de Lotbiniere-Harwood
ACTING THE (RE)WRITER: a feminist translator's practice of space

Chihambuane
What I Have to Do

James Baldwin
The Price of the Ticket

III. Spinning Memories

Ellen Frye
Arachne

D. H. Melhem
Plain String
Gulf War

Alison Marchant
Wall Paper History

Gertrude M. James Gonzalez
Fading Prints of Childhood in St. Croix

Lucy R. Lippard
Anti-Amnesia

Adrienne Rich
Through Corralitos Under Rolls of Cloud
I. Through corralitos, under rolls of clouds
II. Showering after 'flu; stripping the bed
III. If you know who died in that bed, do you know
IV. That light of outrage is the light of history
V. She who died on that bed sees it her way

Paula Ross
Geographies

IV. Bones & Shadow

Ronald Gonzalez
Devil Things

Martin Espada
The Hidalgo's Hat and a Hawk's Bell of Gold
The Skull beneath the Skin of the Mango
When Songs Become Water
Cuando los cantos se vuelven agua

Essex Hemphill
In the Life
Family Jewels
Pressing Flats

Nkiru Nzegwu
may the bullet not find me: Writing Memories, Writing Identity

Elizabeth Clare
Battle Rock
How to Talk to a New Lover about Cerebral Palsy

Jo Whitehouse Cochran
A Bone's Story
Trickster's Song
End of the Rainbow

Carolyn Forche
Book Codes: I
Book Codes: II
Book Codes: III

V. Night Blossoms

Jeffner Allen
tea on the beach at midnight

Becky Birtha
Mythology
Doors
My Vision of a Women's Community
The Way I Want to Be Friends

Anna J. M. Mamary
Performance Art

Tamai Kobayashi
Duet in which the beloved remains silent

Thomas Glave
Baychester: A Memory

David Williams
Made in Mexico
Palo Santo
Light in the Highlands
Getting Through
Privacy

PJ McGann
On the Transformation of Theory into Poetry and Praxis

Audre Lorde
Echoes
The Politics of Addiction
The Night-Blooming Jasmine

Contributors