We write to you today because we have arrived at an unprecedented moment for Split This Rock. It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our organization must suspend its work for the time being. We are also hopeful that, with community support, this pause in our work can be temporary. This is a rallying call to ask what support you can offer as we contend with extraordinary funding challenges and aim to bridge a $68,750 funding gap.
For seventeen years, Split This Rock has been the only national organization with a mission to integrate poetry and social justice. The organization was born out of a need to expand the poetry field’s horizons of inclusion and assert the transformative power of language to bear witness to injustice and provoke social change. For 10 years, we have produced and hosted the only online, searchable database of social justice poetry, The Quarry. We support, uplift, and celebrate the imaginations, voices, and power of those who have been left out of the poetry field and its possibilities.
The nature of our work has always carried risk and required the organization to evolve and adapt. We have faced significant risk and survived through years of struggle, including funding losses and backlash against our work. In June 2020, in response to our statement in solidarity with the Black liberation struggle, a major donor withdrew promised funding totalling nearly 20% of our annual budget. In October 2023, half of our board of directors, including both co-chairs, publicly resigned, and we lost a significant portion of donors from our base in response to our statement in support of a Free Palestine. Now, this year’s systematized escalation of political attacks on the communities we serve and funding for the art we amplify has pushed our organization to a breaking point.
In the coming weeks, we must wind down all programs and publications and adapt our work in several ways:
Close out work with our contracted Teaching Artists and First Readers;
Conclude our Youth Activist Poetry Anthology Project on August 14th, after which all youth programming will be paused;
Pause the Poem of the Week Series and disburse remaining payments to poets;
Explore ways to preserve The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database as a free resource available on our website; and
Reduce staff hours and salaries in August knowing that, without new funds, we will no longer be able to retain our 3-member staff team beyond October.
While our minds are reeling and our hearts are tender from the difficult decisions we have had to make, we aren’t giving up. We are giving it our all to keep this organization alive because, as poets, our work is to respond to the call for truth telling and brave action. We are now turning toward our most important hope: you, our beloved community.
To ensure Split This Rock’s future, we must raise $68,750 as soon as possible. This is a rallying call to our community to ask what outpouring you can offer to help us get through this year’s financial drought.
If you are able to donate, that is the most direct way you can help.The Cynipid Fund has very generously offered to match donations up to $3,000—with your help, we can unlock this match and be $6,000 closer to our goal. We welcome individual donations, community fundraisers on our behalf, and additional offers of matching gifts. You can donate online through Split This Rock’s online giving portal or by mail. If you donate by mail, please send your donation to Split This Rock’s office: 1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20036.
We are also in need of other forms of support, such as pro-bono consulting services, donated poetry workshops, and complimentary spaces for fundraising events. If you are able to volunteer your services, expertise, or time in the coming weeks and months, please fill out this brief form to learn more about the various forms of support we are seeking and let us know what you can offer.
We plan to gather community with in-person events in Washington, DC, as well as virtual events, to connect to the heart of Split This Rock’s work and raise funds to keep it going. Stay tuned for invitations to these gatherings. We hope to share space with as many of you as possible.
With your help to raise the $68,750 we need, this pause in our programming can be temporary and we can reemerge to continue our work with a new sustainability model. We deeply hope to continue expanding the material pathways to earn sustainable livelihoods as poets, the poetic record of our social and political conditions, and our collective imagination of a liberated future.
Yours in poetry and resistance,
Split This Rock Staff & Board of Directors Chelsea Iorlano, Gowri Koneswaran, Alexandria Petrassi, Danielle Badra, Alexa Patrick, Tatiana Figueroa Ramírez
Image Description: Six collaged photos of Split This Rock’s Board of Directors and Staff. From left to right in the top row: Tatiana Figueroa Ramírez, Alexa Patrick, and Danielle Badra. From left to right in the bottom row: Chelsea Iorlano, Alexandria Petrassi, and Gowri Koneswaran.
In alignment with Split This Rock’s October 2023 statement in solidarity with Palestine, we have formally endorsed the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). We join numerous other literary and arts organizations and are grateful to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), and the many other entities and individuals who have led the way.
In adhering to the PACBI guidelines, we will:
Boycott any cultural product or cultural event that is partially or fully sponsored or funded by an official Israeli body or complicit institution;
Refrain from participating in any form of cultural cooperation, collaboration, or joint projects with Israeli institutions;
Refrain from participating in any project that “normalizes” Israel's dehumanization or oppression of Palestinians;
Support Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit or implicit condition for such support.
Joining the boycott does not affect our relationship with any individual writer or reader. PACBI does not target individuals unless they represent Israel or a complicit Israeli institution, or help Israel to “rebrand” itself. Individuals are never targeted by PACBI on the basis of their identity or opinions.
Split This Rock is aligned with oppressed and occupied peoples around the world. We urge all arts organizations, writers, cultural workers, and artists to answer the PACBI call for a free Palestine.
Split This Rock is in solidarity with Palestinians in their ongoing struggle for liberation. We condemn the occupation of Palestine that has persisted for decades and the continuing genocide of its people by the apartheid state of Israel. The U.S. is complicit in this genocidal campaign through funding and arming Israel and endorsing Zionist propaganda. Alongside mainstream English-language media, the U.S. government also shares responsibility for the rise of anti-Palestinian vitriol and hate crimes here and in other Global North countries. While Palestinians around the world are being censored, harassed, and intimidated, protests in support of their lives and liberation are also being suppressed. Being in solidarity with Palestine is not an act of antisemitism. This is not a conflict, it is genocide.
Free Palestine. Free Palestine. Free Palestine.
We encourage you to engage with the following resources for updates and actions you can take to be in solidarity with Palestinians:
UPDATE (10/2024): Split This Rock has formally endorsed the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). Learn more about our commitment in this statement.
Image Description: Split This Rock’s red logo is aligned to the left with white text in a solid black box under it that reads "23 Poems for 2023." Collaged photos in square frames of the 23 featured poets surround the text. From left to right in the top row are photos of Venus Thrash, adrienne maree brown, Camisha L. Jones, Naomi Ortiz, and Ross Gay. From left to right in the second row is Kyle Dargan, Ching-In Chen, Deema K. Shehabi, and Destiny Hemphill. From left to right in the third row is leilani portillo, H. Melt, Chen Chen, Mahogany L. Browne, Patricia Smith, Noor Ibn Najam, and Justice Ameer. From left to right in the bottom row is Paul Tran, Carmin Wong, Arisa White, Joshua Jennifer Espinoza, Saretta Morgan, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, and Bianca Lynne Spriggs.
Support This Home for Social Justice Poetry!
There's still time to support Split This Rock in 2022! If you read and loved, shared, or taught poems from The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database this year, please consider making an increased or first-time donation today to support this home for social justice poetry. Plus, if you donate $25 or more, become a monthly donor for $10 or more, or fundraise for Split This Rock on Facebook or Instagram by 11:59 pm ET on December 31, you could receive a curated book bundle from the staff and board!Learn more about the books in each bundle, who is eligible for the giveaway, how to set up Facebook and Instagram fundraisers, and more at this web page.
You can make an online donation through Split This Rock’s online giving portal or via mail. To donate by mail, send a check payable to "Split This Rock" to Split This Rock, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 600, Washington DC 20036.
23 Poems for 2023
Throughout the month, we’ve been shining a spotlight on poems that lit us up this year. To celebrate the beginning of the upcoming new year, we're excited to share 23 poems to bring us into 2023 from The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database! These are the poems that we are holding close as we're resting during the shorter winter days and dreaming into the new year. We'll be back the first Friday in January with a fresh Poem of the Week hot off the press! Until then, we invite you to discover and rediscover these 23 poems:
This list of poems is curated by the folks who worked behind the scenes this year to make Split This Rock's magic happen, including staff, board members, teaching artists, the Poem of the Week reader team, and publications coordinator. From all of us to you: we hope all the poems we share blossom into an infinite resource of creative stimulation, activation, inspiration, and nourishment for you.
Thank you for reading!
With deep gratitude, and wishing you connection and safety in the new year,
Throughout December, we’re shining a spotlight on poems that lit us up in 2022! We hope all the poems we share this month blossom into an infinite resource of creative stimulation, activation, inspiration, and nourishment for you. If you read and loved, shared, or taught poems from The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database this year, please consider making an increased or first-time donation today to support this home for social justice poetry. Donate $25 or more, become a monthly donor for $10 or more, or fundraise for Split This Rock on Facebook or Instagram by 11:59 pm ET on December 31, and you could be 1 of 5 supporters to receive a book bundle from the staff and board! Learn more about the books in each bundle, who is eligible for the giveaway, how to set up Facebook and Instagram fundraisers, and more at this web page.
You can make an online donation through Split This Rock’s online giving portal or via mail. To donate by mail, send a check payable to "Split This Rock" to Split This Rock, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 600, Washington DC 20036.
Danielle Badra's Top 12 Poems in The Quarry
Today, we're excited to share long-time Split This Rock community member Danielle Badra's Top 12 Poems from The Quarry. Danielle was recently appointed as Fairfax County Virginia's Poet Laureate. Join us in offering our hearty congratulations to Danielle, and in celebrating these wonderful 12 poems and poets!
To pick a batch of my favorite poems from Split This Rock’s The Quarry seemed easy enough. I would read through pages of poems and pick those that called the loudest or the queerest to me. Sifting through over a decade of strong poems, it turns out, is much more difficult than I anticipated. It was, at the same time, invigorating and inspiring. From the mesmerizing artistry and multidirectional meaning making seen in “Ode to Mennel Ibtissam singing Hallelujah on The Voice (France), translated in Arabic” by George Abraham or “Skybridge Rendering Above Minneapolis & The West Bank” by Tarik Dobbs whose hymns for a free Palestine demand to be read over and over again. To the much needed interrogation of police brutality and profiling that rings through “Anti-Ode for the Transportation Security Administration” by torrin a. greathouse and “A Small Needful Fact” by Ross Gay whose calls for social justice require recitation. To the resonating demands for environmental justice as heard in “The Where in My Belly” by Kimberly Blaeser and “Daisy Cutter” by Camille T. Dungy and “There is a Lake Here” by Clint Smith and “Equinox” by Tamiko Beyer whose reflections on our failing climate are cause for prayer.
My hope is for whoever comes across this list of poems as we near the end of another year, both grateful and with our guards up, that you take the time to read each poem closely. To let the gift of language heal whatever can be healed and empower what remains. To meditate on the movement of each poem on the page, to consider the weight of each word, to focus on the soul and how it stirs when a good poem walks into the room. Consider having a conversation with one of these poems. What do you want to say to the poem? Write your own poem beside the poetry of another and see what your poems have to say to each other. Are they out to coffee or at a protest? Are they at a lake or perhaps an apocalypse? Are they whispering or singing to each other? Allow yourself the space to engage with the artistry of your favorite poem of this past year.
Split This Rock has been an incredible resource on my poetic journey, and I’m very thankful for the access to socially engaged poetry this organization provides. The confines of academia and the poetic canon it prescribes can be isolating and exclusionary and the space that Split This Rock provides is the antithesis of the academic canon – it is a place you can learn and love poetry from every voice, not just the voices with the biggest benefactors.
Danielle Badra (she/they) is a queer Arab-American from Michigan who currently resides in Virginia. She received her MFA in Poetry from George Mason University (GMU). Her manuscript, Like We Still Speak, was selected by Fady Joudah and Hayan Charara as the winner of the 2021 Etel Adnan Poetry Prize and published through the University of Arkansas Press fall 2021. She is the ArtsFairfax appointed 2022-2024 Fairfax Poet Laureate and is engaged in a community service project titled “Poetry in the Parks.” Her poems have appeared in Mizna, Cincinnati Review, Duende, The Greensboro Review, Split This Rock, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and elsewhere. Dialogue with Dead (Finishing Line Press, 2015) is her first chapbook, a collection of contrapuntal poems in dialogue with her deceased sister. Learn more about Danielle at their website and keep up with her work as Fairfax Poet Laureate at ArtsFairfax's website.
Image Description: Danielle Badra, a queer Arab-American woman with dark short hair and multiple tattoos, in a black and white button up tank top with a red coral necklace and silver and black dangly earrings, stands in front of plush greenery.
Image Description: At the top, Split This Rock’s red logo is above white text in a solid black box reads "Top Poems of 2022." Collaged images in square frames of the 10 featured poets surround the text. In the top left corner is a photo of Eugenia Leigh. In the top right corner is Siaara Freeman. From left to right in the second row is Eli Clare, Liv Mammone, Aurora Levins Morales, and Michal 'MJ' Jones. From left to right in the bottom row is Arianna Monet, Liza Sparks, David James "DJ" Savarese, and Cintia Santana.
Top 10 Poems of 2022
Annually, Split This Rock takes time to spotlight and celebrate the poems visited most in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. Every list is a way to reflect on what has affirmed, nourished, empowered, enlightened, comforted, and encouraged us as we’ve faced the year’s challenges, losses, and delights. We're excited to announce the 10 Most Read Poems in The Quarry that were published in 2022! Check them out below.
If you read and loved, shared, or taught poems from The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database this year, please consider making an increased or first-time donation today to support this home for social justice poetry. Donate $25 or more, become a monthly donor for $10 or more, or fundraise for Split This Rock on Facebook or Instagram by 11:59 pm ET on December 31, and you could be 1 of 5 supporters to receive a book bundlefrom the staff and board!
Visit Split This Rock'sonline giving portalto make a one-time donation or become a sustaining monthly donor today. Learn more about Split This Rock's book bundle giveaway, how to set up a Facebook or Instagram fundraiser, as well as how to send a donation by mail, at this webpage.
We hope all the poems we share this month blossom into an infinite resource of creative stimulation, activation, inspiration, and nourishment for you. Thank you for reading!
Heading Collage Image Credits: Eugenia Leigh by Ted Ely, Siaara Freeman by S. J. Janah, Eli Clare by Samuel Lurie, Aurora Levins Morales by Rebecca Garcia Gonzalez, Arianna Monet by Tatiana Johnson-Boria, Liza Sparks by Olli Jay, David James "DJ" Savarese by Pamela Harvey, Cintia Santana by Rewa Bush.
Image Description: Over a black background, Split This Rock's red logo appears above bold white text which glows red and reads "2023 Pushcart Prize Nominations." Below the text is a collage featuring photos of the 6 nominees: Liza Sparks, Cintia Santana, Hayan Charara, Tala Khanmalek, David James "DJ" Savarese, and Siaara Freeman.
Split This Rock is thrilled to announce six nominations for the 2023 Pushcart Prize.
Please join us in celebrating these incredible and necessary poems by reading, listening, and sharing. To access the full poems as both audio and text, visit the special collection in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Databasefor a full list, or click the links on the poem titles below.
At the end of July, our dear colleague Camisha Jones, Managing Director at Split This Rock, shared the news of her transition out of the organization. Camisha's near decade of work has been pivotal in the evolution of Split This Rock's literary programs. Her creativity and commitment to justice has radiated through her leadership – from her innovation of Split This Rock’s curatorial practices and her leadership in the organization’s efforts to more deeply embody Disability Justice principles, to her program planning that has brought the community some of it's most beloved Split This Rock experiences, from the Poem of the Week Series to the Split This Rock Poetry Festival. We are deeply grateful and honored to have worked alongside Camisha. Her wisdom, kindness, humor, thoughtfulness, and fire have brought so much joy and meaning to our collaborations. While we will miss her presence and leadership at Split This Rock, we are thrilled to celebrate her next moves – the first of which is being named a 2022 Disability Futures Fellow!
Split This Rock’s work will carry on more inclusive, just, and thoughtful for Camisha’s time at the organization. Camisha leaves a legacy we are committed to stewarding, celebrating, and building upon. We hope you will join us in uplifting Camisha’s work by sending notes of celebration and tuning in to an evening of conversation and poetry with Camisha and Danez Smith.Read on below for more information about the event and mark your calendars! If you’d like to express gratitude to and celebrate Camisha, please reply to this email or send a note to info@splitthisrock.org.
Last, but not least – we’re excited to announce that Split This Rock will be hiring for two full-time positions soon. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. We’re looking forward to welcoming some new faces to our team!
With gratitude and excitement,
Chelsea Iorlano and Alexandria Petrassi
Image Description of Staff Photos: Collage of Split This Rock staff members Chelsea Iorlano and Alexandria Petrassi. Chelsea wears a brightly colored, striped rebozo, gold hoop earrings, and a flower in her hair. Alexandria wears a light blue dress with white embroidery, a gray and black knit sweater, and a moon necklace. In both photos, Chelsea and Alexandria are outdoors and smiling.
An Evening of Conversation and Poetry with Camisha Jones and Danez Smith
Tuesday, August 16, 2022, 6-6:45 pm ET
Image Description: Photos of Camisha Jones and Danez Smith. Camisha Jones smiles while sitting outside in a park. She has brown skin and her hair is styled in two-strand twists. She wears glasses, dangling earrings decorated with jewel-toned stones, a necklace, and a v-neck purple dress. Danez Smith wears a mint green t-shirt and a gold necklace. They hold both hands behind their head and laugh with their eyes closed.
Join us for a live-streamed conversation and poetry reading with outgoing Managing Director Camisha Jones and Board Member Danez Smith to celebrate Camisha’s leadership and impact at Split This Rock! Learn more about Camisha and Danez below.
Tune in to the live-streamed event on Split This Rock's YouTube channel! You can turn on a reminder to receive a notification through YouTube when the event is about to start.
Accessibility: ASL interpretation and CART service will be available. Visual descriptions will be shared by each speaker and effort will be made to identify who's speaking throughout the program. If images are shown, verbal descriptions will also be shared. If you have other accommodation requests, send an email to access@splitthisrock.org. We are committed to doing all we can to make this an accessible virtual experience. Given time constraints and other limitations, receiving accommodation emails as early as possible will give us the best opportunity to fulfill requests. After the conversation is live-streamed, a captioned recording will be prepared and available via YouTube.
About The Poets
Camisha L. Jones has served as Split This Rock’s Managing Director since November 2013. During her tenure she has also organized four biennial poetry festivals, served as an editor for the Poem of the Week Series and a curator for the Sunday Kind of Love Reading & Open Mic Series, launched a bi-monthly writing workshop series, and worked diligently to expand the organization's commitment to accessibility and disability justice. She has close to 30 years’ experience organizing and leading programs, gatherings, and people at nonprofits and institutions of higher education.
Camisha is a 2022 Disability Futures Fellow, Franklin & Marshall College’s 2017 Lapine Poetry Fellow, and one of the Loft Literary Center’s 2017 Spoken Word Immersion Fellows. She competed at the 2013 National Poetry Slam on behalf of Slam Richmond. She is a co-editor for a forthcoming anthology of disability poetry with Travis Chi Wing Lau, Naomi Ortiz, and Michael Northen.
Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020), Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book Award, and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. They are the recipient of fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, Cave Canem, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Danez's work has been featured widely including on Buzzfeed, The New York Times, PBS NewsHour, Best American Poetry, Poetry Magazine, the 2020 Pushcart Prize Anthology, on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Danez is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and was the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness. Learn more at Danez's website.
Image Description of Photo of Camisha Jones: Camisha Jones smiles while sitting outside in a park. There is a body of water to her right and behind her there is grass, trees, and a bridge in the distance. She has brown skin and her hair is styled in two-strand twists. She wears glasses, dangling earrings decorated with jewel-toned stones, a necklace, and a v-neck purple dress.
Dear community,
After 8 years and 8 months of incredible, dynamic, challenging, and heartening experiences at Split This Rock, today I write to share that I will be leaving the organization on Wednesday, August 17, 2022. Being recently named a 2022 Disability Futures Fellow provides a rare and incredible opportunity to embrace the spaciousness I’ve been deeply craving to devote to my artistic life, well-being, and family. While this transition is bittersweet, I believe my departure—positioned within the organization’s return from fallow season—opens a doorway for an exciting new era at Split This Rock and I hope you will rally around the organization as it makes its way forward.
Finding the Managing Director position at Split This Rock in 2013 was an irresistible dream come true. I discovered Split This Rock on the internet after a career advisor encouraged me to search for organizations doing what I wanted to be doing—instead of searching for jobs. So I did! I learned about the upcoming Split This Rock Poetry Festival which was being held during my birthday weekend in 2014 and I promptly decided that’s where I wanted to be for my celebration. Little did I know, just a short while later that year I’d come across Split This Rock’s opening for a Managing Director and I’d not only be at the Festival in 2014 but I’d be planning it and immersed in the delicious heart of it all!
Even with all my enthusiasm, I had my hesitations. I’d made an intentional choice not to work at nonprofits—knowing it meant working without adequate resources and immense challenges to maintaining work/life balance. The Managing Director job description was long and complex but I believed I had become equipped with sufficient skill at holding my boundaries. As you know from reading messages from the staff these last few years, those concerns I held were valid. I’m proud of the work we’ve been doing to disengage from unsustainable work practices. It’s important that when we applaud Split This Rock’s successes that we aren’t simultaneously applauding a culture of staff exhaustion and overextended resources.
Having had the privilege of working side by side (and desk by desk) with founding director Sarah Browning, I know the adjustments that are being made align with the heart of what the organization was born to embody. Throughout the years, I’ve been fortunate to witness Split This Rock leaders modeling the core values of the organization in ways that disrupt norms and power dynamics which would ultimately uphold oppression. I leave holding those lessons the closest and knowing that legacy will continue on.
I came into my identity and consciousness as a disabled person while at Split This Rock. That shift affected every aspect of my experience—personal and professional. Being at Split This Rock during this awakening was a gift. I had never worked anywhere that made it a point to prioritize accessibility or connection with people within disability communities. I am so grateful that Split This Rock’s founders—guided early on by long-standing community supporters like Kathi Wolfe—included accessibility as a core value. Being at Split This Rock gave me a compass that’s helped me find my way to disability justice advocacy. It provided a framework to build upon and helped me find people I can call kin and collaborators. I am immensely proud of the work I’ve done to expand accessibility at Split This Rock and how it opens a door for more progress into the future. Thank you to everyone who has carried this work with me.
As the organization moves forward, what I wish for most is that the work of fallow season continues to flourish—that the organization would not return to the glorified days of being over-programmed and understaffed, that its work ethic and culture continue to be reimagined through the wisdom of disability justice. If there is anything I ask of you, dear community, as I transition to my next phase it is that you release your previous expectations of this organization and show up for it as it finds its right pace of growth and offerings.
I want you to know I believe wholeheartedly in the leadership of Alexandria Petrassi and Chelsea Iorlano: two audacious and powerfully skilled people with the ability to dream beyond what the nonprofit industrial complex deems as best practices. There are no better people I could imagine steering the organization through these pandemic times to take it to its next stage of being. Please offer them your heartiest levels of support. They will be in touch soon to share the organization’s next steps.
As I reflect back, I am astounded at all that’s been held over these 8+ years: almost 4 biennial festivals, 400+ published poems, all the DC writing workshops, virtual & in-person open mics, outstanding youth poetry, public actions—so many, many memories! I am holding so much gratitude in my heart for colleagues, volunteers, board members, partners, and Split This Rock community members who have bolstered this work. Thank you for your belief, encouragement, volunteered time, expertise, accountability, donations, friendship, kindness, poetry, fire, and unyielding readiness for resistance! I am proud to call you kin and I’m eager for new ways to stay connected in the future.
With gratitude, Camisha L. Jones
Photo above of Camisha Jones by Brandon Woods.
A Message from the Board of Directors
Image Description of Collage: Split This Rock Board members appear in collage above from left to right as follows: Susan Scheid, Regie Cabico, Danez Smith, Charles Doolittle, Lauren K. Alleyne, Marlena Chertock, Taylor Johnson, and Dwayne Lawson-Brown.
Camisha’s work has been critical to the spirit and effect of Split This Rock since she arrived in 2013. From being a marvelous mind behind our literary programs to introducing and instilling key disability justice practices in the organization, Split This Rock is and will continue long into the future to be indebted to the work of the wonderful poet, organizer, curator, and human that is Camisha Jones.
In an organization that has accomplished the work of many with a staff of a mighty few, Camisha has risen above and beyond the call of her duties to make sure that Split This Rock stayed possible and moved forward toward being a better community dedicated to action and poetry. She has helped engineer sustainable work models that will assist us in carrying this work forward as she moves on to new exciting opportunities.
Camisha is an irreplaceable ally and a stellar mind on all sides of the poem, whether championing poets or crafting magic within her own work. We wish Camisha all the best on her continued journey and will remain grateful, awestruck cheerleaders as she continues to move and transform the world.
Thank you, Camisha, for all your effort and magic. What a pleasure it has been to build with you.
Signed, Split This Rock Board of Directors
Charles Doolittle, Danez Smith, Dwayne Lawson-Brown, Lauren K. Alleyne, Marlena Chertock, Regie Cabico, Susan Scheid, and Taylor Johnson
Photo of Marlena Chertock by John Consoli. Photo of Lauren K. Alleyne by Adriana Hammond. Photo of Taylor Johnson by Sean D. Henry-Smith.
Image Description: Over a white background, bold black text with a yellow outline says “Fallow Season Ends June 30.” Under this text is an illustration of a yellow-orange sun rising from green fields under a light blue sky. Three yellow dots surround the illustration.
Dear community,
Split This Rock will return from our fallow season on July 1, 2022. Throughout all of Split This Rock’s nearly 15 years of work, we have been constantly affirmed that poets are at the forefront of responding to cultural crisis – providing possibilities and ways forward, opening perspective and conversation, and inviting us all deeper into the ongoing work of liberation. Toni Cade Bambara says it best: “The role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” We’re excited to get back to uplifting poets and poetry that make revolution irresistible, and to sharing that work with our community as we re-engage with refreshed programs.
To kick off our return, the Poem of the Week Series will return to your inboxes tomorrow, Friday, July 1! Throughout July, Split This Rock will publish poems and poets in support of the 2022 Poetry Coalition theme: ‘The future lives in our bodies’: Poetry & Disability Justice. We’re also delighted to now offer Poem of the Week contributors $100 stipends. If you love Poem of the Week and are as excited as we are for its return, share the newsletter with a friend! You can sign up to receive Poem of the Week and other Split This Rock emails by filling out this brief sign up form.
To celebrate the Poetry Coalition’s 2022 themed programming and our transition out of fallow season we recently offered a special curated collection of poems from the disability community and a virtual roundtable discussion on disability justice and poetry featuring Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Naomi Ortiz, and Meg Day. We’re happy to announce that you can now find a captioned recording of the roundtable on Split This Rock’s YouTube channel. If you haven’t already, we hope you will join us in tuning in, uplifting, and sharing these offerings widely. You can learn more about these offerings below.
Finally, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, we send solidarity to everyone protesting, organizing, grieving, and supporting one another. In case a poem can serve as an effective tool within your actions, we offer a short list of poems in support of reproductive justice for all people below. More can be found in The Quarry by filtering for Abortion Rights Poetry Contest winning poems. We also invite you to visit us on Twitter to share resources and opportunities for action via this devoted thread.
If you would like to support our work, a donation at any level is always appreciated and welcomed. To donate, visit Split This Rock’s online giving portal. To donate by mail, send a check payable to "Split This Rock" to Split This Rock, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 600, Washington DC 20036. Thank you to all our partners, funders, and donors for their generous support!
With overflowing gratitude, and excitement for the year ahead,
Chelsea Iorlano, Camisha Jones, and Alexandria Petrassi
Split This Rock Staff
Image Description: Split This Rock staff members appear in collage above from left to right as follows: Chelsea Iorlano, Camisha Jones, and Alexandria Petrassi. Chelsea wears a brightly colored rebozo with vertical stripes, gold earrings, and a gold necklace. Camisha wears glasses, brightly colored earrings, and a necklace with a v-neck purple dress. Alexandria wears a light blue dress with white embroidery, a gray and black knit sweater, and a moon necklace. In all three photos, staff members are outdoors and smiling.
Poems In Support of Reproductive Justice & Solidarity Work
Visit The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database for more poems in support of reproductive justice -- search the Contest-Winning Poems and filter for the Abortion Rights Poetry Contest. The Quarry is an online collection of over 600 poems by a diverse array of contemporary socially engaged poets. Searchable by social justice theme, author’s identity, state, and geographic region, The Quarry is a unique, rich resource available for free at Split This Rock's website.
Please feel free to share Split This Rock's Poem of the Week and other poems in The Quarry widely. If you share, credit the author, name "The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database at Split This Rock" as the source, and include a direct link to the database for any reproduction of poems. Thank you!
Now Available on YouTube: Disability Justice & Poetry Roundtable Recording
Image Description: On the left, alternating white & green text over a black background reads "The Poetry Coalition 2022 Programming. The future lives in our bodies: A Disability Justice & Poetry Virtual Roundtable Discussion. Featuring Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Naomi Ortiz, Meg Day, and moderator Camisha Jones. Recorded Tuesday, June 7, 2022, 6:30 pm ET via YouTube Live. ASL & captioning provided." On the right, there are collaged photos of Meg, Naomi, Leah & Camisha. The image is a link to the YouTube video.
Did you miss our virtual Disability Justice & Poetry Roundtable with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Naomi Ortiz, Meg Day, and moderator Camisha Jones earlier this month? Or maybe, like us, you loved the discussion so much that you’re ready to rewatch and share with friends. We’re excited to make a captioned recording of the event available for free on Split This Rock’s YouTube channel.
We hope you enjoy this incredible roundtable and reading!
Don’t Miss Disability Community Top Poems!
Image Description: Split This Rock’s red logo is aligned to the left with white text in a solid black box under it that says "Disability Community Top Poems." Collaged photos in square frames of the 20 featured poets surround the text. From left to right in the top row are photos of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, George Abraham, Amanda Gorman, Kathi Wolfe, and Shira Erhlichman. From left to right in the second row is Margo Tamez, Emily Michael, Tara Hardy, and Meg Day. From left to right in the third row is Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner, Noor Ibn Najam, Jasminne Mendez, Naomi Ortiz, and Camisha Jones. From left to right in the bottom row is Nathan Spoon, Sheila Black, Amir Rabiyah, torrin a. greathouse, Malik Thompson, and Ching-In Chen.
Don’t miss this special curated collection of top poems by poets within the disability community from The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database! These are poems that speak about community and care, honor humanity’s beautifully diverse spectrum of ability and being, expose the harm of ableism, and present urgent demands for cultural transformation. Curated based on poems readers have turned to most, all of the collection’s poems include text, image descriptions for author photos, and audio or video of the poems. Read the full collection of poems at Split This Rock’s website.
We encourage you to use and share these poems widely, and ask only that you credit the author and name "The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database at Split This Rock" as the source. Please also include a direct link to the database for any reproduction of poems.
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