Dear Friend,
When Venus Thrash took the stage for her featured reading at Split This Rock Poetry Festival 2012, she did so for Trayvon Martin. In a black sweatshirt, hood-up, she approached the podium and let her truth speak.
In fact, 500 of you approached microphones, conference tables, the steps of the Supreme Court to let your truth speak--for Trayvon Martin, for June Jordan and Adrienne Rich, for yourselves and for each other.
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| Alexis De Veaux schools the Supreme Court |
Thanks to your spirits, words, ideas, and hope, we all left the 2012 festival energized and excited to continue bringing essential works of provocation and witness to the forefront of American poetry.
Can you help us reach our June goal of $5,000 with a gift today? No snail mail! We're saving trees. Just click here to give.
Thank you for this electric weekend. I am back [home] and thinking so much of June's work and what is possible. What is possible is so much! Here we go!
-Solmaz Sharif
Split This Rock programs are building on that energy and flourishing. We continue to bring the Sunday Kind of Love reading series to local audiences and have added workshops throughout the fall and winter with such groundbreaking poets as Tim Seibles, Pamela Uschuk, and Jericho Brown.
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| Sonia Sanchez & Alice Walker catch the spirit |
We are also getting ready to re-design our website to bring you more resources, such as a database of the Poems of the Week searchable by theme, an online bookshelf, an events calendar, and more photos and video! Please let us know how we can design the site to serve you and meet your needs.
You can help with a gift today! Just click here!
The panel on Persistent Voices (poets lost to AIDS) was, like the anthology, life-changing. One of the most meaningful moments of my life.
-Daniel Nathan Terry
Split This Rock's youth programs are on fire, too. On June 2, for the first-time, we brought the Chicago-based high school poetry slam competition, Louder Than a Bomb, to the area. Twelve high school poetry slam teams from the District, Maryland, and Virginia competed in a day-long competition, participated in workshops, and connected with others from across the river or outside their neighborhoods.
And now, poetry clubs are sprouting in high schools throughout the area, as young people discover the power of poetry to tell their stories.
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| At the festival's youth open mic |
This is to say: Split This Rock can't do it without you. Your support carries the movement we have built together -- and it is paying off.
With gratitude and in solidarity,
Alicia, Jonathan & Sarah --
On behalf of the whole Split This Rock team
ps - You can still send a check! Make it out to "Split This Rock" and send to:
Split This Rock
1112 16th Street, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Thank you!
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