Thursday, March 4, 2010

Help Split This Rock Bring Poetry to the Capitol


Poetry In The Streets: Torn Between Bitterness and Hope, Poets Bring Inspiration
to Our Nation's Lawmakers


All are welcome!


The United States has now spent $1 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, our public schools and universities are facing massive cuts, millions of Americans are without health care, the earth is desperate for loving
attention. Clearly, our lawmakers need the poets to tell them how to spend the next $1 trillion.

Bring your vision for the country and the planet to the Capitol!

When: Thursday, March 11
4:30 - 6pm
Where: Upper Senate Park,
U.S. Capitol Grounds

Click here for a map.

We will create and read aloud a collaborative Cento poem at Upper Senate Park. Please bring a line from a poem (up to 12 words), by you or by someone else, that articulates your vision of a dramatic reordering of our nation's priorities. Write or type your line on a piece of paper. Include the name of the poet, your name (if different), and your home town.

Feel free to bring signs, but no poles bigger than ¾" around and no signs offering anything for sale.

The Cento will begin with these lines sent to us by Adrienne Rich, from "An Atlas of the Difficult World":

I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse ...

How to Get There

We will meet at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol Grounds, near Union Station, on Metro's Red line (or Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter on the Green/Yellow lines).

The #96 bus leaves from the northwest corner of U and 14th Street NW near the festival workshop and panel sites and goes right to the park, stopping at the corner of D Street NW and Louisiana Avenue NW.

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