lisa minerva luxx

Pamenar Press
11 minutes ago
3 min read

lisa minerva luxx is a British-Syrian writer and political activist. Their poetry, essays and fiction have been published internationally including by Poetry Review, Telegraph, New England Review, BBC Radio 4, Al Jazeera and their short film ‘Lesbian.’ was produced by Channel 4. In 2021 their debut collection, Fetch Your Mother’s Heart received critical acclaim. They are a platinum award-winning lyricist with Maison Arts, LA. They have written three verse plays including what the dog said to the harvest which premiered at Southbank Centre. Currently, studying their PhD in diaspora resistance poetics, they have also taught students at Columbia University (New York), American University of Beirut (Lebanon) and Queens Mary (London). In 2025 their short story collection, Raising the Sun, is set for release by Comma Press. luxx is a long-time grassroots organiser across England, Beirut and Syria. They believe in transnational community and direct action as a means of liberation.

what the dignity of khosrow golsorkhi taught me

MAY I BE HONEST AS A MAN WHO WILL NOT STAND WHEN THE JUDGE ENTERS THE ROOM MAY I BIRTH A THOUSAND MORE FIGURES FROM THIS FLESH LIKE A STREET FILLING WITH RIOT WHEN A SCRUM OF PEOPLE WATCH YOUR TRIAL ON THEIR TV SET MAY THIS BODY BE A VIEWING PLATFORM WHEN ASKED IF WE WILL CONTINUE THIS TERRORIST BUSINESS WE MUST SAY ABSOLUTELY YES THEN SWITCH TO A FORBIDDEN LANGUAGE LIKE

ِدت ول ُ لأرھ ُ ِبكم

HISTORY IS ON THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR MARXISM IS ISLAM FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’T WASH THEIR BUM PEDAGOGY IS TREATING YOUR ANCESTORS AS COMRADES POETRY ONLY POETRY IF IT MOVES FROM CHEST TO CHEST NEVER SURRENDER: COMMAND YOUR EXECUTIONER YOURSELF

IF I BE EXECUTED I TOO WILL REFUSE THE BLINDFOLD CHOOSE THE FINAL SUN THAT KNOT PASSED BETWEEN HANDS &WHEN IT’S MY TURN TO FORCE IT UNDONE STRANGERS WILL LIGHT MOLOTOVS INSTEAD OF CANDLES

IF WE LEARNT ONE THING LET IT BE THAT ONE SHOULD NEVER ABANDON THEIR PLANS TO ASSASSINATE THE PRINCE

&THE EQUATION IS A BLUNDER ONE DOES NOT EQUAL ONE &FREE DOES NOT EQUAL ON&ON ONE FLAG ALWAYS REPLACES ANOTHER

BUT I PROMISE — IF THEY GET ME — TO BURST INTO A THOUSAND MORE OF US

Golsorkhi on poems:

“This style may not fit any literary school, just as the poetry of the Palestinian Fadayeens does not. Why should it fit any literary school. Why imprison our poetry, which is our only effective art form, in literary and stylistic schools? The place of a poem is not in libraries, but in tongues and minds. Literature must retain the role it always had in social movements for us too in the displacement of social order and fulfil it. The role of literature is to awaken. The role of progressive literature is to create social movements and to help attain the goals of historic development of peoples."

This poem is 30 lines to rattle against the 30 articles of the declaration of human rights; 30 is also the number of words in article 1, the part about every person’s right to dignity. 30 is the age of Khosrow when he was sentenced to death for communist beliefs.

the dignity of Dedan Kimathi

Mzungu Aende Ulaya Mwafrika Apate Uhuru

when Kimathi was shot in the leg

they found him with a bundle of sugarcane and panga but in the museum ((and courts)) it’s his revolver on display. captured wearing leopard skins they handcuffed him among colonialists and homeguards (his face giving nothing away; he was a canopy, Nyandarua Forest podo trees; where freedom fighters trained in hiding) he sat easy, the captors themselves looked afraid.