Pride Poems 2026

1. Today’s Poem “Not Going Quietly” by Peter Montgomery

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   Not Going Quietly
   “Another world is not only possible,
   
   she’s on the way and, on a quiet day,
   
   if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing.”
   
   – Arundhati Roy
   I can hear a new world coming on the loudest days,
   
   drummers thrumming heartbeats at the Pride parade,
   
   go-go music’s energizing beats at a Free DC rally
   
   at 14th and U, drivers honking appreciation.
   Screams of delight at the Halloween high-heel race,
   
   solidarity singers serenading purged federal workers,
   
   dance parties summoning courage and celebration
   
   at the gates of gulags and centers of oppression.
   Bullhorns and boos aimed at architects and enablers
   
   of authoritarian cruelties and brutal kidnappings,
   
   righteously directed rudeness rousting them
   
   from swanky strongholds and comforting cocoons.
   Decide now that you will not be quietly complicit.
   
   Gather strength in silence if that is what feeds you.
   
   Breathe deep, seek peace, find solid ground.
   
   Exhale the joyful noise of liberation.
   

   Peter Montgomery is a researcher, writer, and activist who is relying on poetry, singing, and community to keep him grounded and human in the face of the cruelty and authoritarianism of the MAGA movement currently controlling our national politics. He is grateful for his loving husband, sweet dog, meaningful work, and family and friends near and far.
   

   Peter Montgomery is a resident of Brookland.

2. “for a friend, for when despair is lounging on their chest” by tt santos

   
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   i roll up bible pages and u say
   
   ‘don’t bring those curses down on me.’ don’t play,
   
   u been cursed! from the start, least from the day
   
   u jailbroke ur soul, breathed river-clay
   to life. besides, don’t we got angels too?
   
   what else u think i’m doing when i kneel
   
   between ur thighs but worship? don’t it feel
   
   like heaven in this hell ur burning thru?
   get up! the empire’s making us its bitch–
   
   we need ur sorcery. dig up the streets,
   
   churn through the sewer trash–let loose the Land!
   earthquake the obelisk, it’s made of sand!
   
   no matter how these godfrauds beat their meat,
   
   they’re roadkill ratsnakes–ur a crossroads witch.
   

   tt santos lives in Columbia Heights. She draws, paints, writes, tattoos, and cooks. She aspires to create work that insults the genocidally drab sensibilities of the hegemon.
   

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   tt santos is a resident of Columbia Heights.

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