Resistance Poetry 2018.02
The Power and Control Wheel — Remind you of anything?

Resistance Poetry 2018.02

February Made Me Shiver

Domestic violence has consumed my February. It all started with writing.

In 2016, I broke decades-long silence and began to write. I didn’t keep it in my journal. I posted it on Medium.

It was discovered by a neighbor, Patricia McLean, who had recently broken free of an abusive marriage.

Patricia is a writer and a photographer specializing in portraits. She had an idea. She could raise awareness of domestic violence by creating a book of survivors which would tell their stories. Would I be willing to participate? Of course I would.

The first stage in her project was to create an exhibit of the photos and words of local women, Finding Our Voices, to be hung in the Camden Public Library. Camden has 5,000 people. And it’s February. In Maine. None of the participants expected our effort to become a national news story.

And it wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been for Patricia’s ex. He did what abusers always do, try to exert control through bullying and intimidation.

He has money and he has lawyers. He’s used to getting his way. But this time, instead of picking on Patricia, his target was the Free Press, a local weekly which ran a cover story on the exhibit, including a rehashing of his crimes, which, back in 2016, were their own national headlines because he’s none other than Mr. American Pie, singer/songwriter Don McLean.

The Free Press didn’t take the threats lying down. Sister newspapers published, in full, his lawyer’s letter to the paper and their lawyer’s flaming rebuttal. Within hours, the story hit the AP.

There he was, trying to use his power and celebrity to quash a story which made him look bad (because he was bad), and it spectacularly backfired.

All I could think was how it reminded me of a certain powerful someone who is engaging in his own domestic abuses.

If you are curious about the project, you can find us here.

NEW POETS

Aaska Ejaz

Sylvia Wohlfarth

RETURNING POETS

maurice blocker

Jane Vogel

Steve B Howard

China Cancio

John Gillen

Adeyele Adeniran

Dermott Hayes

Cheney Meaghan

Gypsy Marie

Joe Duncan

Kevin Rodriguez

Christine Salkin Davis

Ré Harris

Dennett

Rhonda Marrone

Anna Rozwadowska

Kevin Saitta

LB

Michael Stang

Harper Thorpe

Adam Millett

Matthew B.

antoinette nevitt

Christyl Rivers, Phd.

Meg
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['Domestic Abuse', 'Resistance Poetry', 'Poetry', 'Politics', 'Collection']