Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Split This Rock: Poems of Provocation & Witness

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

As always, poets say so much in few words. Here is the latest update about Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness, which will be held here in Washington, SOON: March 20-23, 2008. If you believe that art and politics have—or should have—a meeting point, please get involved, whether by attending the conference or supporting the festival through a donation.

Following is the message from the Festival Executive Coordinating Committee, Sarah Browning, Melissa Tuckey, Regie Cabico, Jaime Jarvis:

We, too, have lift off: the schedule is up! Visit the website at www.splitthisrock.org to view the schedule for Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness, coming to Washington, DC, March 20-23. Register today for this historic event.

Converging on the nation's capital as we enter our sixth year of war in Iraq, poets will gather to say: No! to war in Iraq and Yes! to activism, community, and poetry.

The festival kicks off with a press conference Thursday, March 20 and ends with a silent march and closing ceremony in front of the White House on Sunday, March 23. In between, we will celebrate poetry and activism with panel discussions, workshops, collaborative writing, walking tours, film, and readings.

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

Featuring four days of readings, workshops, panels, contests, walking tours, film, parties, and activism! With Chris August, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Princess of Controversy, Robert Bly, Kenneth Carroll, Grace Cavalieri, Lucille Clifton, Joel Dias Porter (aka DJ Renegade), Mark Doty, Martín Espada, Carolyn Forché, Brian Gilmore, Sam Hamill, Galway Kinnell, Stephen Kuusisto, Semezhdin Mehmedinovic, E. Ethelbert Miller, Naomi Shihab Nye, Sharon Olds, Alix Olson, Alicia Ostriker, Ishle Yi Park, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Susan Tichy, Pamela Uschuk, and Belle Waring.

The full program schedule is now online!

Register Today!
There is only one week left to save on registration! Before March 10 registration is only $75 or $40 for students, and includes entry to all readings, workshops, panels, receptions, walking tours, and other activities.

$25 will buy a day pass, which includes readings, workshops, panels and other activities for one day. Register online: http://splitthisrock.org/registration.html. You can also download a form and send it in. Scholarships available. Check the website for details.


Split This Rock Needs Your Support!
Support Split This Rock, the historic gathering of activist poets: Donations are 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. For more information about sponsorship, contact Sarah Browning at info@splitthisrock.org.

Work-in-Progress

DC-area author Leslie Pietrzyk explores the creative process and all things literary.