To those who would wait
for the revolution
wearing John Lennon t-shirts and
Guy Fawkes masks,
tattoos on their arms,
braids in their hair,
waiting for the return of
Marley, Tupac, Marat, Cobain:
To those who would wait
for the tide to turn,
for the waters to rise,
for others to fall
on their swords,
for a new king to be crowned;
a queen forgotten:
To those who would wait
until it is convenient;
when their work is done,
when children have gone,
after that next big promotion,
vacation, fad diet, season finale:
To those who would wait
until the fat cats own their lives,
until the food riots begin and
the summers become too hot
for victory gardens:
To those who would wait
under overpasses,
in alleyways,
buried in inescapable debt:
Stop waiting.
The fight did not end
in 1789, 1865, or 1964.
Stop waiting.
The fight is now, and
the word of the day is Resistance.
Sarah Chenoweth graduated from both the English and Communication M.A. programs at Pittsburg State University. She has been published in print through I-70 Review, Communication Theory, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, and the Journal of International Communication, and online through the Silver Birch Press and Kansas Time + Place.
Guest Editor Laura Lee Washburn is the Director of Creative Writing at Pittsburg State University in Kansas, and the author of This Good Warm Place: 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition (March Street) and Watching the Contortionists (Palanquin Chapbook Prize). Her poetry has appeared in such journals as TheNewVerse.News, Cavalier Literary Couture, Carolina Quarterly, Ninth Letter, The Sun, Red Rock Review, and Valparaiso Review. Born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, she has also lived and worked in Arizona and in Missouri. She is married to the writer Roland Sodowsky and is one of the founders and the Co-President of the Board of SEK Women Helping Women.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 