Liberation as Poetic Form

A Zine from Mississippi (Part 1)

In September 2024, over twenty poets with geographical, genealogical, historical, political, and psychological ties to Mississippi came together for a poetry workshop inspired by a grassroots tradition of action in the state. Studying predominantly scarce archival materials, the weekly workshop had two goals. First was to learn how every decade in Mississippi saw a galvanized group of poets using community to turn poetic impulse into democratic exercise; how poets of a fugitive and undercommons class in an oppressive state understood themselves as both artists and political actors in an ongoing liberation project. The second goal was to understand how we belong to this tradition of craft and action in Mississippi–that a blueprint for ourselves could be read in the work of poets never recognized by the hegemonic literary canon, and in some instances actively silenced through violence and coercion.

From 1890-1999 Mississippi was vibrant with Black, Brown, Queer, and working-class poets, but this is not the history our dominant narrative fronts. Through study, discussion, and generative writing the Liberation as a Poetic Form (LPF) workshop troubled the given narrative to understand our roots and connect with a tradition of community-oriented poetry and liberation.

This zine pulls together original poems written by twelve members of the first LPF workshop, and also provides some of the materials from our curriculum. It’s our hope that this is a generative tool for poets of all experience levels and vocations within the state. Future workshops will be available to poets from or in Mississippi, with the next one offered online in March 2025.

C.T. Salazar

The Mississippi Delta, November 2024

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Emma Gousset is a queer writer and farmer from Mississippi. They currently live in Seattle, Washington, where they draw inspiration from the natural world and daily joys of working outdoors.

Michelle McMillan-Holifield is a Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee. She pens poetry, book reviews, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Her work has been included in or is forthcoming in Boxcar Poetry Review, Nelle, Sky Island Journal, Stirring, The Collagist, The Main Street Rag, Whale Road Review, and Windhover, among others.

Todd Osborne is a poet and teacher. He was born and raised in Nashville, TN. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, and his PhD in English - Creative Writing from The University of Southern Mississippi. His debut poetry collection, Gatherer, was published in the spring of 2024 by Belle Point Press. His writing has appeared at The Missouri Review, EcoTheo Review, and Tar River Poetry. He lives and writes in Hattiesburg, MS, with his wife, their son, and their three cats.

Maggie Graber (she/her) is a queer poet from the Midwest and the author of Swan Hammer (MSU Press, 2022), winner of the 2021 Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize and a 2023 nominee for a Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. She has received fellowships from the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Luminarts Cultural Foundation, and she currently lives and teaches in Oxford, Mississippi, where she earned her Ph.D.

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