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"Revolutionary Letter #1" by Diane di Prima

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November 1, 2020  

Revolutionary Letter #1
Diane di Prima

I have just realized that the stakes are myself
I have no other
ransom money, nothing to break or barter but my life
my spirit measured out, in bits, spread over
the roulette table, I recoup what I can
nothing else to shove under the nose of the maitre de jeu
nothing to thrust out the window, no white flag
this flesh all I have to offer, to make the play with
this immediate head, what it comes up with, my move
as we slither over this go board, stepping always
(we hope) between the lines

From Revolutionary Letters (City Lights Publishers, 1971). Copyright © 1971 Diane di Prima. Used with permission of Sheppard Powell. Published in Poem-a-Day on November 1, 2020.

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“Revolutionary Letter #1” was first published in Revolutionary Letters (City Lights Books, 1971).

Diane di Prima, author of more than 30 collections of poetry as well as short stories, novels, and memoirs, was a prominent member of the Beat Generation. Alongside Amiri Baraka, she was the cofounder of the New York Poets Theatre and the coeditor of the mimeograph newsletter The Floating Bear. She died on October 25, 2020.
The Poetry Deal
(City Lights Books, 2014)
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“I, too, sing America.”

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Thanks to Heid E. Erdrich, author of Little Big Bully (Penguin Books, 2020), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A about Erdich’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year. 
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