The Turnip Truck(s) seeks submissions to our online series inspired by Writers Resist events. This series will feature work that reflects on current political events and how these events have affected our lives, communities, and environment(s). Essays, poems, stories or letters up to 1,500 words should offer some critique of and insight into the current political climate.

If the piece was premiered at a Writers Resist event, please indicate which event, so we can give them credit. Participants who read another writer's work at a Writers Resist event may submit his/her/their selection with a statement that addresses why the piece was chosen, how the piece speaks to "resistance," and how the piece is applicable today. Audio recordings are encouraged.

We send acceptance notifications only, typically within two to three months, but feel free to inquire about your submission after three months.

Featured

100 Lines*

By Claiborne Rice

BETTER PRESIDENTS I WOULD VOTE FOR:
1. A flaming bag of poo <Pile of poo>
2. A barrel of radioactive waste <Radioactive sign>
3. A dumpster fire <Fire>
4. A syringe filled with Covid-19 and HIV <Syringe>
5. Any invading alien <Extraterrestrial alien>
6. Any hungry zombie <Man zombie>
7. Joe Biden <Zany face>

Motions

By Doug Bolling

The people are here
And not.
They move among themselves
As companions in suffering

Stream

by Mary Crosby

At the headwaters I spring
into existence
rise like an idea
from the mountain’s mineral mind

Component Parts

by Jed Myers

The truck was driven by someone,
a component of the contraption,
a conscious part whose last action
behind the wheel would rock the whole zone...

Fire Ant

by Jacqueline Jules

If I must admit to being small,
a tiny being, insignificant alone,
I can still claim to be a fire ant
who stings with toxic venom.

A Villain's Villanelle

by Joe Andriano

Tweets and jibes don't speak the truth.
I taste his words, then spit them out
Like bitter pills or mushy fruit.

Two Poems by Sergio A. Ortiz

There will always be departure between us,
you, the mirage, a feral dog hunting
for water in the desert.
I, the patriarch of a horde of slaves
in search of a million masculinities.

Just the Facts

by Lucinda Marshall

Perception is:

REALITY

reflected

Letter to America

by Rene Denfeld

What we do matters. We all have strengths to bring to the table. For some it might be art, for others protest, some of us go micro and others go big. There is no hierarchy when it comes to activism.

The End of Wonder (an inauguration ode)

by Brent Terry

It was the year of weird food and devastation.
The dancehalls were torched, poets kicked apart,
verses left to bleed out in the bushes.

Letters Between Two Women, One in the USA, One in Switzerland, Following the US Presidential Election of the Man Who Grabs Pussy & Lost the Popular Vote

by Beth Couture & Renée E. D’Aoust

This isn't how it should be. And I'll fight for how it should be, for how it will one day be. Because there's no other choice. Right now I'm grieving, and I feel there's no other choice but that either. I'm so grateful you're with me in the fighting, in the grieving.

Tawny Shouldered Blackbird—Guantanamo Bay

by Jess Burnquist

My love and I sing a dual song,
Three dits, three dahs, three dits
Into the space where sky and water meet
Or to one another in the brush, our cupped nest.