Poetry Hut Blog

Poetry News:

1. — Detained poet in hospital with hernia —
2. — Haikuists are adept at juxtaposing vivid imagery during springtime —
3. — For the next four days, the area around U Street and Columbia Heights will be buzzing with the presence of poets —
4. — Stray Questions for: Ishmael Reed —
5. — Current Finalists for the 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards —
6. — “I think poetry is a much larger part of our lives than popular culture indicates” —

I changed my bracket at the last possible minute before lock-down. Final 4 = Tennessee, Memphis, UCLA and Wisconsin. Still going with UT. (I don’t know what I’m doing.)

Some Split This Rock blogging here and here.

Poetry News:

1. — Why this bevy of bards, this plethora of poetry, this Vesuvian eruption of verse? —
2. — MLB Poetry Preview: Chicago Cubs —
3. — My first reaction was, “What are you smoking?” —
4. — This week, the Academy of American Poets announced the launch of … a mobile poetry archive providing free access to a collection of more than 2,500 poems —
5. — Today, Sam Leith profiles the highly-influential poet of the English revolution, John Milton —
6. — With 16 books between them, four authors will take part in the first “Gathering of Tennessee Writers” at MTSU, on Thursday, March 20, 4:30 p.m. —
7. — All contemporary poetry when it is contemporary is initially baffling to its readers —
8. — Introducing seven of the greatest poets of the 20th century —

Poetry News:

1. — In ‘‘Elegy,’’ poet Mary Jo Bang has taken on one of the largest and most difficult subjects in all of literature —
2. — National Book Critics Circle finalists —
3. — John Milton: the poet who gave us ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Matrix’ —
4. — Former poet laureate opening another chapter in his life —
5. — How lovely it is that there are words and sounds —
6. — John Ashbery, Octavio Paz, Stanley Kunitz and Robert Pinsky all wrote poems for him —
7. — he calls for the impeachment of George W. Bush, whom he calls “a booted, sombrero’d/cowboy Caligula/who couldn’t manage a straw/horse on a parade float…” —
8. — Ex-carpenter warms up tp poet laureate honor —
9. — Editorial: Frost home vandalism is deeply disturbing —
10. — Poets and jazz artists find rhythm and rhyme —
11. — Taslima Nasreen has been chosen for the prestigious Simon de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on rights for women —
12. — Vendetta fear after poet murdered —
13. — Denise Clarke is entertaining as poet Anne Sexton in Sylvia Plath Must Not Die —
14. — If Fence magazine were an actual fence, it would be a portable one —
15. — A different kind of poetry concentrates more strikingly on expressiveness —

I’m going to Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness in March. I bought a plane ticket but I don’t know where I’m staying yet. I’ve only been to D.C. once, for some computer security training. But I took a train to the Mall area and wandered around for half a day. Saw about an hour’s worth of the Smithsonian. I wish I had more time to see stuff but I won’t. I’d like to meet with my members of Congress, too, but I won’t be there on those specified constituent days. After all the letters I’ve written them I’m not sure their staff would schedule me anyway hahaha.

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

Hmmm. I may do a proposal for this. Email me if you would like to collaborate on something. Also if you like have a couch for me to sleep on in DC March 20-23, 2008 hahahaha.

Dear Friends,

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness is just six months away, March 20-23, 2008. We”™ve loved hearing from so many of you, learning about the important work you”™re doing in your communities around the country, and we”™re thrilled with the amount of excitement the festival is generating.

Split this Rock invites proposals for panel discussions and workshops on a range of topics at the intersection of poetry and social change. The guidelines are pasted below and will be available for download from the website at
www.splitthisrock.org next week. The deadline is December 1, 2007. Please forward this notice widely and send us your ideas ““ we can”™t wait to read them.

HUGE THANKS!

All the best and onward to 2008,

Sarah Browning and the Coordinating Committee of Split This Rock

**

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

CALL FOR PANEL DISCUSSION PROPOSALS

Split This Rock calls poets to a greater role in public life and fosters a national community of activist poets. Building the audience for poetry of provocation and witness from our home in the nation‘ capital, we celebrate poetic diversity and the transformative power of the imagination.

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness

March 20-23, 2008, Washington, DC

Split This Rock Poetry Festival will bring poets and writers to Washington DC on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, in the midst of the presidential election. The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism, and walking tours - opportunities to build community, hone our activist skills, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change. To read more about the festival, see our website at: www.splitthisrock.org.

In addition to featured readings by guest poets, Split this Rock invites proposals for panel discussions and workshops on a range of topics at the intersection of poetry and social change. Possibilities are endless. Challenge us. Let‘ talk about craft, let‘ talk about mentoring young poets, let‘ talk about working in prisons, connecting with the activist community, sustaining ourselves in dark times, the role of poetry in wartime. Let‘ remember great poet activists and discover new, let‘ think international, visual, collaborative, out of the box.

A panel may consist of 3-4 persons, with one person designated as facilitator. Please title your panel and include brief biographical information for each participant, along with a two paragraph description of your panel”what are the questions you wish to explore”why is this conversation timely and necessary at this time”how will this panel further the goals of Split This Rock? How are the members of your panel uniquely qualified to lead a conversation on your proposed topic?

We have a strong interest in interactive conversation and community building, so please indicate how you will involve participants in the discussion.

Please note that panel presenters must register for Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Some scholarships will be available. There is no limit to the number of proposals you may send, but please be sure that all proposed presenters have agreed to be part of your proposed panel. Also, we are a small, mostly volunteer group, so please send only your favorite ideas.

Send proposals in the body of an email to: info@splitthisrock.org by December 1, 2007. Please include full contact information for yourself and all proposed panel presenters. Please use the attached form. Just copy the questions into an email and paste your answers in. Please be sure to save a copy of your proposal, as emails do sometimes go astray. We will acknowledge receipt of your proposal, with a timeline for hearing back.

Questions? Email us at info@splitthisrock.org. We look forward to reading your proposal!

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

PANEL DISCUSSION PROPOSAL FORM

PANEL TITLE:

Convener/Facilitator Name:

Mailing Address:

Email Address:

Phone:

Participant Name:

Mailing Address:

Email Address:

Phone:

Participant Name:

Mailing Address:

Email Address:

Phone:

Participant Name:

Mailing Address:

Email Address:

Phone:

1. Please include a one paragraph bio for each participant.

2. Please describe in 250 words or less the purpose of your panel.

3. Describe your method for involving festival participants in the panel.

**

Support Split This Rock ““ click here to make a secure tax-deductible donation. Be sure to designate Split This Rock as the recipient of your gift. Many thanks!

**

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

http://sarahbrowning.blogspot.com/

202-787-5210

Poetry News:

1. — Writing tops poll of ideal jobs —
2. — Prolific poet was a gracious critic —
3. — Mary Jo Salter and Brad Leithauser, a couple with individual success, will write the next chapter of Hopkins’ Writing Seminars —
4. — Conversation With a Poet Laureate —
5. — Rare Anne Spencer collection headed to UVa —
6. — Renowned poet and Tennessee native Nikki Giovanni will return to her alma mater this fall as a distinguished visiting professor at Fisk University —

March 20-23, 2008 “You are invited to our nation‘ capital for a festival that celebrates our great tradition of poetry of witness and resistance.”

“There were no differences by political party in the percentage of those who said they had not read at least one book” … and One in Four Read No Books Last Year

Evidently, lit mag distributor Bernhard DeBoer has gone out of business.

Here is an OPML file of my poetry-related blog subscriptions. I guess you can right-click to download it. You can import it into Bloglines or Google Reader or other blog readers. I recently switched from Bloglines to Google reader entirely because Bloglines kept giving me old feeds.