Poetree Host Today!

Hey folks! I'm the host over at poetree  today. It's a multi-hosted week in which we talk in depth about Julia Stein's awesome poem Downtown Women. I wrote a post about the poem's broader historical context. (Hopefully I got it mostly right, it was written primarily before the brain fog took hold. But go easy on me if you are a history nerd and I didn't mention your Favorite Thing.)

Also, poetree  is having some labor-themed challenges for writers and readers of poetry that can net you free dreamwidth points, an icon, or a poem so you should check those out. (It is okay to enter both as well! Double your chances! Enter even if you are not a dw member!)

100 things blogging challenge: 17

So there are certain things I mention at dinner parties and at any parties or conversations that I know about from my history degree that are conversation stoppers. But they are things I feel like people should know about, only they don't know about them. But it's kind of like, I dunno, talking about genocide at dinner?

Usually I just stay quiet, but I am going to mention a thing here behind a cut. Be forewarned that it is a TRIGGERY thing and it has the potential to:

1. make you angry at people in the past
2. be visually disturbing (pictures of graphical violence if you follow the link)
3. poke at any anti-racism feelings you have rather hard
4. make you angry at people in the present for ignoring this part of history in favor of the [World War II] History Channell
5. make you insufferable at dinner parties

( TRIGGER WARNING please read numbered list above; triggers involve racial violence, hate crimes, learning things that will make it hard for you to stay quiet at dinner parties )

Poetree Challenge 21

So this poem was totally not what I was thinking of writing, and I'm still not completely sure about it or whether it totally completes the goals of the challenge. Plus, I have generally learned to trust poems that write themselves, so. Here you go.

If you're interested in the Poetree challenge for this week, you can find it here.

never learned anything from history
by untonuggan 

i used to be a historian
but it done make me mad done make me sad
all the cheatin' all the stealin' all the lyin'
all the killin' we done all through time

Ancient Rome threw people to the lions
was built by slaves and stealing peoples' land
people say, look at those buildings
they're a great civilization
we should try to be like Rome
it done made me made done made me sad

i thought, i'll take a fun class
sex and sexuality in the US
( NSFW (language) and also cut for length )