If you read my about me page, you’ll know that I started this blog as a poetry blog, but then as I got more into activism and organizing, I began to write more about socialism and politics.
I’ve decided to make poetry a more frequent part of this blog again.
They say you’re supposed to write what you know, and the things I know are activism and the arts.
I still plan on writing articles to expand the world’s understanding of socialism and activism, but I have always thought of myself as a subversive. My greatest desire is for my writing to have an effect, to make someone think a thought they never thought before and to get them to take action.
But there is an annoying hurdle towards getting people to read theory, people often find it “boring” and prefer to read something creative rather than theoretical. People do want to further their political education, but they also need escape and to be reminded of the beauty of expression, especially in these dark times we find ourselves in.
As much as I disagree with the idea that theory is boring (I find intellectualism invigorating) it is true that one can be just as subversive, if not more so, with a piece of poetry or art.
If I want my words to provoke thought and feeling, I can think of nothing better than poetry.
Poetry is pure expression, it puts feelings into words and is always a product of reflection, and it invokes emotion and thought in its readers and listeners. Poetry, has thus been an underutilized tool in organizing.
There is another reason I am promising more poetry on this blog and it is the epidemic of leftist grifters online, who are begging for your money for doing nothing more than spewing their hot takes and problematic politics.
I want to give the world something more than the bad jokes on Chapo Trap House or the self branding of other podcasters. No, I started the patreon with the hope of funding my artistic license.
Sure, I want to write about politics, I’m well versed in politics, but I do not want to use leftism as a way to con followers out of money. No, I want my patrons to feel like they are actually patronizing something besides more than a hot-take machine or a personal brand, I want my patrons to know that they are funding the arts.
As mentioned before, poetry invokes feelings of beauty, all poetry is dependant on the language being beautiful, even the darkest of poems needs beautiful language to invoke its tone in the reader, and this is a time when we need to be reminded that there is beauty in the world. Poetry is something that I can offer the world and my patrons without feeling like a grifter. Poetry is powerful and I intend to use that power.
So you can expect just as much poetry on this blog as you can expect politics, hence the new tagline “A socialist blog of theory and poetry.”
James J Jackson 