The role of the Artist is to
Make Revolution Irresistible²
We change the Fate of Nations
By the Stroke of one Small Pen³
Let my words, instead of endless litany,
Be an Index, Unhinging the Foundations
Of every Category & Name forced upon us⁴
Critique doesn’t have to be the premise of a
Deduction which concludes: this is what needs
To be done – it’s a Challenge directed to What Is⁵
If you have built Castles in the Air, your work
Need not be lost: that is where they should be⁶
The point of Art is to produce Ourselves
Rather than the Things that Enslave us⁷
The Artist must take Sides: they must
Elect to Freedom or Slavery – I make
My choice, I have No Alternative⁸
Poets will Re-Write the Bill of
Rights in our Own Language⁹
Poets are Unacknowledged
Legislators of the World¹⁰
¹ Paul Celan tr. Ian Fairley, Gymnosperm
² Toni Cade Bambara
³ Unknown, Towser Shall Be Tied Tonight
⁴ George Abraham, The Palestinian/Queer Specimen’s Index
⁵ Michel Foucault, Questions of Method
⁶ Henry David Thoreau, Walden
⁷ Guy Debord, Theses on Cultural Revolution
⁸ Paul Robeson, Speech in Support of the Spanish Republic
⁹ Ed Sanders, Predictions for Yippie Activities
¹⁰ Percy Shelley, In Defense of Poetry