Misrepresented People
Subtitle
Poetic Responses to Trump's America
Edited by María Isabel Alvarez and Dante Di Stefano
The poets anthologized in "Misrepresented People: Poetic Responses to Trump's America" bear witness to, rage against, and defy the misogyny, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, and authoritarian impulses that have always surrounded us, but that are incarnated in the 45th president. At a time when large swaths of the nation, and of the world, have succumbed to a reality television ontology, the poems collected in this volume offer the terra firma of imaginative empathy only available to us through poetry. This anthology contains work from a variety of aesthetic stances, from poets whose personal backgrounds reflect the vibrant multiplicity of our democratic vistas at their most resplendent. These voices counter alternative facts and fake news with the earned communion and the restorative utterance of the lyric and of the narrative. Proceeds from this anthology will be donated to The National Immigration Law Center.
Bio
María Isabel Alvarez earned her MFA in creative writing from Arizona State University in 2017. Her fiction has appeared in Gulf Coast, Black Warrior Review, Sonora Review, Puerto del Sol, Arts & Letters, and elsewhere.
Praise for this book
So maybe a poem never changed anyone's vote. But I'm emboldened by these poets, as I believe poetry changes – it deepens, widens, enchants, enlivens, and empowers – every single reader's mind. Let's name the brutal, resist the greedy, condemn the unjust, and in Timothy Liu's words defend 'this scorned tract of earth called home.' And let's do it with song.
David Baker
Only by examining rigorously and critically [America's] foundational values can we reckon with the creation of a better and more just future for all those who live on this land. The poets in this anthology bring a spirit of not just resistance and dissent, but of creating that new future.
Kazim Ali
