The World We Want is Us

The World We Want is Us is the anthologized debut of Public Menace; bringing together the revolutionary imaginations of poets from across the globe to celebrate building fresh creative coalitions in the mobilization for future change.

Organized into three sections, the Public Menace poets collected in this anthology span nationalities, poetic styles and revolutionary scopes. On offer is a kaleidoscopic journey into the intersecting struggles for our future, expressed through the voices of contemporary poets from America, Africa, Asia and Europe. The radical approach of Public Menace concerning the organization of creative communities sees stalwart voices published alongside fledgling artists, resulting in a roster as diverse in perspective as it is free-wheeling and wild with its variety of form and style.

The anthology opens with poems that speak to the sense of wonder and speculative dreaming that precipitates mobilizing for activism. Take Root Among the Stars sings to God and dead heroes, contemplates writing as an act of resistance, and tackles feelings of despondency and dread that accompany wishes for change. Middle Fingers up marks the progression of radical thought from the abstract to the concrete: these poems shout loudly against injustice and subjugation. Transphobia, racism and colonialism, misogyny, climate catastrophe, technological interferences and capitalist oppression are among the main topics of resistance. After the crescendo of powerful refusal expressed throughout Middle Fingers Up, the collection draws to a close with And All Shall Be Well. This final section celebrates the regrowth and recuperation that necessarily accompanies movements for change. Poems here express a commitment to tenderness and the retention of beauty that fighting for our futures can steal.