Poems published in Speaking Truths: The Poetics of Defining Human Slavery

Among the many things we have forgotten to mention was that late last year Catzie and I each had one of our human slavery poems published in a chapbook titled Speaking Truths: The Poetics of Defining Human Slavery. We were invited to submit poems for this publication by Annie Fukushima, who was one of the organizers for Girl Fest Bay Area in 2006 when we performed there. Catzie's poem is "What Do We Really Know?". Mine is "Homeless Heart." Here is the introduction for the publication, written by Annie:

"Through language and art we bear witness to normalized violence of human trafficking/slavery that has made its way into the present. Through articulating how people survive pain, may we imagine a space of liberation, of freedom, through the language of speaking truth(s). In speaking truth we allow for a context of defining the spaces in which human slavery situates itself: in poverty, racism, gender, and the colonial legacies and ongoing reality that manifest in militarization. And, in these spaces, human trafficking crosses not only the fine lines of ideological structures that we define in our everyday, but the everyday of the global. We dedicate this to women, queers, and women of color who by their racialization and sexuality face lived realities of being raced and sexed, and resisting raced/sexed violence enacted on their bodies. This publication is in memory of the estimated 50,000 that are trafficked throughout the U.S. annually, and the estimated 800,000 plus globally trafficked survivors, who are not merely numbers, but a testament to violence at its extreme."

We are honored that our poems were chosen to be part of this important work. The chapbook was a joint project of Students and Artists Fighting to End Human Slavery (SAFE HS) and Achiote Press. The chapbook has sold out but you can find out more about it on their websites. The books also features poems by Agustín Palacios, Aida F. Santos, Brenda Kwon, Cawa Tran, Chong N. Kim, Christine Stark, Danielle Deadwyler, Elsa Orejudos Valmidiano, Gabriela Erandi Rico, and Keelikolani Lee. Cover art was created by Christine Stark