On the Front Lines // Behind the Lines

Editor: Margaret Rozga Publisher: Pitymilk Press and Woodland Pattern (2021) Contributors: Hayley Jasinski, Anne Koller, Peter Goldberg, Mary Ali-Massai, Barry Slavis, JM Latham, Darren-Jurmé Allumiér, Katy Phillips, Terimarie Degree, Kathrine Yets, and Renee Glembin "Poems can skirt, brush or allude to, wrestle with or tackle social and racial justice issues outright. Poets who write social justice poems may write from behind the lines or directly from the front lines. I’ve written poems in each of these modes. What I do when I’m not writing—gardening, caring for children, teaching, participating in civil rights and community actions—finds a way through my fingers to my page. Sometimes the route is direct, sometime circuitous. I’ve been on the front lines starting in the mid-1960s when I worked voter registration in rural Alabama and marched for fair housing in Milwaukee, and more recently have protested policies that undermine public schools and threaten the environment while fightin