Here’s a call for action for poets (and other interested parties) in the DC area:
"Are you frustrated by the state of the nation? Would you like to be part of a visionary new arts movement for peace and justice? If the answer is yes, please lend your time to Split This Rock Poetry Festival, and event that will celebrate our great tradition of poetry of witness and resistance.
"The festival will take place in Washington, D.C. in March 2008 and has two goals:
1) To celebrate the poetry of witness and provocation being written, published, and performed in the United States today, and
2) To call poets to a greater role in public life and to equip them with the tools they need to be effective advocates in their communities and in the nation.
“The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions on poetry and social change, youth programming, films, parties, walking tours, and activism. Featured poets will include Jimmy Santiago Baca, Grace Cavalieri, Lucille Clifton, Mark Doty, MartÃn Espada, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, Galway Kinnell, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alix Olson, Alicia Ostriker, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Susan Tichy, Pamela Uschuk, and Belle Waring, among others.
“We need volunteers ASAP to fill a variety of roles in planning and administering the event: fundraising, promotions, media, sponsorships, programming, and more. This is a great chance to meet other writers/poets/activists and be involved in arts for social change.
“For more information, please check this web site, email info@splitthisrock.org, or contact Heather Davis at hdavis@jsi.com. Look on the website for an announcement about our first volunteer gathering to be held in the coming month.”
