Poets for Harris A Poetry Anthology

Poets for Harris is a collective of poets from across the United States committed to protecting artistic freedom and supporting the historic campaign of Kamala Harris for president. All net profits from sales of this book will be donated to VoteRiders.

A few hours after President Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election and Vice President Kamala Harris was named his preferred candidate, Win With Black Women, led by founder Jotaka Eaddy (and author of the foreword for this collection), kicked off an organic tsunami of volunteer organizations with a historic 44,000-strong Zoom call. Win With Black Men, White Women: Answer The Call!, White Dudes for Harris, Comics for Kamala, Cat Ladies for Kamala, and many more soon followed.

San Francisco Bay Area poets Liz Cahill and James Morehead, during a break at a local open mic, asked the question: “Where are the poets?” And Poets for Harris was born. Like many of the over 100 grassroots organizations, Poets for Harris started from nothing more than an idea and the determination to do something.

Fast forward to Sunday, September 15, the 61st anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, and an extraordinary lineup of poets took to a virtual mic for a nearly four-hour livestream event, viewed (as of this writing) by nearly two thousand people. Even more poets participated online by contributing videos, which were shared thousands of times on social media.

This book builds on that event with contributions from Pulitzer Prize nominees and finalists, poets laureate, and authors, including: Lauren K. Alleyne, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Carmine Di Biase, Tennison S. Black, Tabitha Bozeman, Clarise Annette Brooks, Dustin Brookshire, Liz Cahill, Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, Tina Cane, Kai Coggin, Nick Courtright, Brennan DeFrisco, Lenny DellaRocca, Lauren Ducrey, Cornelius Eady, Regina YC Garcia, Ella Gordon, Salaam Green, Carol Guess, Jared Harél, Judy Ireland, Patricia Spears Jones, Mike Jurkovic, Ben Kline, Dorianne Laux, Matthew Layne, Morgan Liphart, Elise Liu, Jennifer Martelli, Donna Masini, Tyler Mills, James Morehead, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Lisa Mottolo, Gloria Muñoz, ayodele nzinga, Donald Platt, Maya Raveneau-Bey, Victoria Redel, J.R. Rice, Jessica Sabo, Lisa Marie Simmons, Susannah Winters Simpson, Kelsey Stancliffe, L.J Sysko, Pamela Wax, Steven Willis, and Emanuel Xavier.