adrienne maree brown

emergent strategy is an excellent gateway to her work, but if poetry is your jam there are several timely, powerful ones on her blog that give you a sense of her who and what and how and why and this work.

case in point:

choosing earth (adrienne maree brown, april 8, 2026)

if anything horrific horrific happens
i’m here

i used to say if you need me
call me
and i meant
if the darkness makes you feel lost
i’ll be your gallows humor
i’ll find you by your laughter

i used to say if something bad happens
let me know
and i meant
i will close any distance
to catch you before you fall
i only need a white flag

then if anything unprecedented happens
text me
i love you but my ringer’s off
so many phone calls have ruined my life
and i am trying to build one of the arks
to carry us through this

one horrific isn’t enough
we have witnessed humanity
dragged by the hair to hell
we have seen the charred earth
as each day brings unholy tantrums
from men who hate the word no

today the president of the united states
threatened the annihilation of a people
the dictator of reality tv
is jealous of the moon
in an age of celestial mechanics
he fetishizes a nuclear option

today we know the names
of every coward who claims power
but cannot seem to shift a tide
to save a life
i’d rather worship a rock in the vastness
i’d rather cry with astronauts

so if anything horrific horrific happens
i’m here
screaming NO with you
grieving home with you
raging ourselves free
with all the people of earth
at odds with our governments

and if i can’t hold you close
or again
i will name the brightness for you
i will be steadfast – an earthling
choosing earth
choosing earth