Liberty's Vigil release

FootHills Publishing Releases First International Occupy Movement Anthology

Liberty’s Vigil, The Occupy Anthology:

99 Poets among the 99%

Ninety-nine poets, including 2012 festival featured poet Kathy Engel and a handful of Split This Rock friends: Francisco X. Alarcón, Scott Hightower, M.J Iuppa, and Michael Rothenberg, speak out on behalf of the 99%, encouraging their fellow citizens to join in the effort to end corporate excess and income inequality, and win back the middle-class from corporate titans and their political puppets. Co-editors Karla Linn Merrifield and Dwain Wilder have assembled the first anthology of its type in the world to inspire readers to take action on behalf of the 99%.

We encourage you to check out the Liberty's Vigil blog: http://99poets.blogspot.com for the latest on the project, including readings.

Liberty’s Vigil, The Occupy Anthology: 99 Poets among the 99% (128 pages) is available for $20.00 at selected bookstores nationwide – ISBN 978-0-931053-81-8 -- and from FootHills Publishing at www.foothillspublishing.com. FootHills Publishing, celebrating its 26^th anniversary this year, is headquartered in Wheeler Hill, N.Y. Michael Czarnecki, publisher, is available at (607) 566-3881.

Creative Democracy: Poetry and the 99%

Split This Rock presented a panel on Tuesday at the George Washington University's University Writing Program's Forum on Democracy and Public Argument. Katherine Howell, GWU professor and Split This Rock blog goddess open the panel with some poems. Sarah Browning, Split This Rock Director, moderated the discussion between Kenneth Carroll, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Esther Iverem. At the end of the panel, Katherine led the audience in creating a cento, or patchwork, poem about the public voice in all its forms. The poem, and pictures from the panel, are below.

Striving to work hard, do good,
feel like fruitless efforts
Fermentation DIY, blackeyed peas & burnt
weiners, Godfather marinara notes scribbled
in a dark theater - recipes for trouble

Kenneth Carroll reads at the panel.

A voice amplified through
poetry is impossible to ignore
Mr. Ferguson screaming at the
night sky, take me! Imploring some
God who took his wife
A love song whistles, gathering -
round, square, triangled,
parallel: singing us home.

Sarah Browning looks on as Sonya Renee speaks.

For those whose blood had paved
freedom's road, I most owe my
voice to the asphalt of this journey.
A no-fly zone over
my voice, my womb,
my loves, my life.
A little stutter, a little shout.
emocycrad (can you say this?)
my public voice? - hidden
in these letters, a word there
but not here
that is not yet speech

Esther Iverem speaks at the panel.

Still wondering what the next
version of the movement
will look like
My public voice is forever vigilant
to hear wishing for wider fellowship
yearning for newsprint to open up
and release the anguish.