Poetry serves as a powerful form of dissent by challenging norms, giving voice to the marginalized, and resisting oppression through its unique use of language, form, and performance, acting as a “situated act” of protest that reclaims narratives and creates spaces for memory and resistance against dominant powers, even in its unconventional structure on the page. From Amiri Baraka’s political verse to prisoner poetry, it embodies resistance, offering a crucial tool for social commentary and political expression. 

How Poetry Functions as Dissent:

• Linguistic Subversion: Poetry often strains against conventional language, using metaphor, ambiguity, and concentrated words to express ideas that might be censored or too complex for straightforward prose, making the language itself a form of resistance.
• Formal Opposition: Its physical shape—uneven lines, white space—can be seen as inherently obstinate, an “awkward squad” resisting mainstream literary expectations.
• Situational Act: In occupied territories or oppressive environments (like Palestine or Kashmir), poetry becomes a political gesture, a “placemaking” to counter erasure, preserve history, and assert a right to presence.
• Performance & Voice: Public readings and spoken word amplify dissenting voices, using humor and vibrant language to challenge issues like violence, materialism, and social exclusion, as seen in contemporary Irish poetry.
• Memory & Commemoration: Poetry serves as a tool for remembering and commemorating experiences, offering a way to process trauma and resist the dominant historical narratives of the oppressor. 

Examples of Poetry as Dissent:

• Amiri Baraka: His poem “Black Art” uses a confrontational style to challenge political figures and advocate for revolutionary art.
• Prison Poetry: Poems written by prisoners, such as those from the Attica workshop, resist dehumanization and assert identity.
• Maya Angelou: Her works, like “Phenomenal Woman,” offer powerful expressions of Black womanhood and resilience against oppression.
• Irish Poets: Writers like Brendan Kennelly and Rita Ann Higgins use vibrant language and performance to tackle complex social issues. 

In essence, poetry as dissent takes the personal and makes it political, using art to question power, build community, and reclaim narratives.