Poetry Hut Blog

I’m back in Tennessee and had a really fun trip. (Aside from the TSA.) Vermont was beautiful and it was great seeing my family. Too fast. The whole trip went by too fast.

My sister’s plane got diverted on the way back. There was a puking drunk passenger guy & somehow he got on the plane with a tube of toothpaste that was (gasp!) over 3 ounces. And being a drunk guy he wouldn’t give it to the flight attendant. So the plane landed in a different town so the cops could get him off the plane.

See you after the new year. I hope that your holiday season was full of good stuff. I’m behind on my email etc so if you sent me something thank you.

Dear Friend,

Don’t you hear this hammer ring?

I’m gonna split this rock

And split it wide!

When I split this rock,

Stand by my side.

- Langston Hughes

For four days in March, poets will descend on our nation’s capital for an historic gathering: Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness will hit the streets of Washington on the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, March 20-23, 2008. We’ll be giving readings, learning from one another in workshops, panels, and meet-ups, celebrating the rich history of socially engaged poetry in DC and the nation.

The poets will be joining together to name injustices, provoke change, and reclaim our language from the spinmeisters and propagandists. This giving season, we invite you to help us break the silence by supporting poetry of provocation and witness. Your gift to Split This Rock Poetry Festival is tax deductible – itself an act of resistance.

Poets from all over the country will be converging, demanding an end to the immoral Iraq War and a dramatic reordering of our priorities here at home - to save our planet, restore our civil liberties, meet our pressing human needs. You can be part of this historic gathering: Support Split This Rock at www.SplitThisRock.org.

Please help us get the word out by forwarding this request to friends and family who will be inspired by the enthusiasm and excitement that Split This Rock is generating around the country.

We are 60% of the way towards reaching our budget thanks to the generous support of the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the Humanities Council of Washington, and private foundations and individuals.

Some of the most celebrated and important poets of our time will be reading and participating. DC poets Chris August, Kenneth Carroll, Grace Cavalieri, Joel Dias-Porter (aka DJ Renegade), Brian Gilmore, Semezdin Mehmedinović, E. Ethelbert Miller, Princess of Controversy, Susan Tichy, and Belle Waring will be joined on stage by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, Martín Espada, Carolyn Forché, Sam Hamill, Joy Harjo, Galway Kinnell, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Alix Olson, Alicia Ostriker, Ishle Yi Park, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, and Pamela Uschuk.

Read more at www.SplitThisRock.org

Our vision for the festival includes a youth poetry contest, poetry in the streets, poetry walking tours, poetry films, poetry activism and protest, poetry parties. Registration will cost only $75, with many scholarships available. Additional funds are needed to provide scholarships and cover publicity, printing, and airfare, room, and board for the featured poets.

Much of our support so far has been from individuals like yourself who believe that poetry matters, that the work of poets in a time of war is necessary.

Please contribute whatever you can. $500 will cover airfare for one of our far-away poets. $100 will cover one night’s lodging. $75 covers the scholarship of one low-income poet. Give $100 or more and you’ll be thanked in the festival program. And all donors will be thanked on the website. Every dollar is tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, the Institute for Policy Studies. Just click here and be sure to designate “Split This Rock” as the project you’d like to support.

Or send a check payable to “IPS/Split This Rock” to:

IPS

1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600

Washington, DC 20036

Thank you and Holiday blessings!

With deep gratitude,

Sarah Browning, Melissa Tuckey, Regie Cabico, and the Coordinating Committee of Split This Rock

PS- The deadline for the Split This Rock Poetry Contest is January 15. We’d love to see your poems! The full guidelines are here: http://splitthisrock.org/contests.html.

**

Sarah Browning

Coordinator

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

c/o Institute for Policy Studies

1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600

Washington, DC 20036

browning@splitthisrock.org

www.splitthisrock.org