By Martín Espada

Not long ago, I read an article by Matt Rothschild on The Progressive website called, "Banned in Tucson." This was the first time I had seen the actual reading list of the forbidden Mexican-American Studies Department.

One of my own books, Zapata's Disciple: Essays (South End Press, 1998), is on the list. Indeed, this book has been banned before—by the Texas state penal system, on the grounds that it might incite the inmates to riot.read more

In the wake of the recent massacre in Arizona, we face a flood of questions. Why did this happen? Who bears responsibility? How can tragedies like this be prevented? Today's poem, by spoken word troupe The Suicide Kings, confronts the reality of guns; the conduits of death whose role is often eclipsed by the names and faces of their users and victims.read more

It's a new year, and we pray it will be a year of greater peace, fuller justice, and shared union with the earth. Truth is, we know all that won't happen in 2011. So as we build our movements and go through our daily struggles, do as the late, great Tupac Shakur - the most influential poet of the last 20 years - says, and keep ya head up. read more

THE SPOKEN WORD ARCHIVE

Attacks on public housing. Budget cuts decimating public schools. Tax breaks for the rich while the rest of us barely get any unemployment insurance. As the government rips up what's left of the social safety net, people are getting fed up. We don't have much welfare, but we do have the Welfare Poets. Listen in, and fight on.read more

THE SPOKEN WORD ARCHIVE

"Every minute that you entertain yourself without paying some corporation to entertain you, you’re acting radically. If you grow even one plateful of your own food rather than buy it from the food corporations, you’re acting radically."read more

After the midterm elections earlier this month, we have 50 new members of Congress who don't believe in global warming. Don't believe in global warming? Well, the earth doesn't care what we believe. It cares what we do. As Lauren Whitehead highlights in this brilliant poem, the earth is an angry woman, and we need to be humble before her -- or fear her whiplash.read more

THE SPOKEN WORD ARCHIVE

Red state/blue state. Liberal/conservative. Crazy redneck/crazy hippie. With the midterm elections this week, we're sure to hear about how deeply divided our country is. Yes, there are profound disagreements over certain issues, but like Jon Stewart pointed out in his rally in DC, "we can have animus without being enemies." Echoing that point, here is a brilliant young poet, Mahaliyah O, who had a personal run-in with the other side in her own town, the People's Republic of Berkeley.read more

If an ars poetica is a writer's declaration of what it means to be a writer, then Aracelis Girmay's "Arroz Poetica" is a poet's manifesto in a time of war. In response to an activist friend's request that all anti-war activists send a bag of rice ("arroz" in Spanish) to the White House - because we should feed our enemies, not bomb them - Girmay responds with the question: but who is my enemy?read more

THE SPOKEN WORD ARCHIVE

“Read for pleasure. The reason the Puritans wanted to stamp out poetry was because it gave pleasure. It’s about things you love, things that you care about.”read more

I'm very pessimistic about the future of the human species."read more

Fifty-five years ago, On Oct. 6, 1955, a young man in horn-rimmed glasses stood nervously in front of a small audience and proceeded to read a strange poem he’d recently written. By the time he was through reading, the entire room was in tears.read more

In the wake of a week where 5 queer youth committed suicide across the country, many LGBT activists and allies are asking ourselves tough questions. How can we support queer teenagers in a non-stop hostile environment of bullying and hate? What's it mean when these events are happening not just in "middle America" but California and New York? And, perhaps most important for Progressive readers, do we need to rethink our focus on marriage as the priority queer issue? In the midst of all this, let us honor the lives of those who are no longer here -- and those who still are.read more