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March 2021 Poetry Coalition Programming

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Split This Rock is proud to be a member of the Poetry Coalition, a national alliance of more than 25 independent poetry organizations dedicated to working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture and the important contribution poetry makes in the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.

In March 2021, the Poetry Coalition will explore the theme "It is burning./ It is dreaming./ It is waking up.: Poetry & Environmental Justice" in a series of programs in eleven cities that will reach an anticipated audience of more than 300,000 individuals nationwide. The line "It is burning./ It is dreaming./ It is waking up." is from the poem "Map" by Linda Hogan which is avaiable online at Poets.org.

Read below for Split This Rock's programming related to this year's Poetry Coalition theme. Follow the hashtags #EnvironmentalJustice and #Poetry Coalition for information on Poetry Coalition programming in March. You can learn more about the Poetry Coalition and it's month of environmental justice programming at The Academy of American Poets website.

The Poetry Coalition and its programmatic efforts are supported by the Academy of American Poets with funds from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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Environmental Justice Poems of the Week

On Fridays in March, Split This Rock's Poem of the Week Series published poems related to environmental justice. Poems for each week will be listed on this page with a link to the full poem in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

  • "Tonight: Rebellious Resistance" by Naomi Ortiz, published March 5 as Poem of the Week. Read this poem at The Quarry.
  • "Hull" by Lisbeth White, published March 12 as Poem of the Week. Read this poem at The Quarry.
  • "Equinox" by Tamiko Beyer, published March 19 as Poem of the Week. Read this poem at The Quarry.
  • "The Where in My Belly" by Kimberly Blaeser, published March 26 as Poem of the Week. Read this poem at The Quarry.

 

Celebrating 3 Years of Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology

Light green rectangle with Poetry Coalition logo on the left and the book cover of Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology on the left.

Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology turns 3 this year! Published in March 2018 by University of Georgia Press, the anthology was created through a Split This Rock project led by the organization's co-founder and the book's editor Melissa Tuckey. This month, we'll be sharing excerpts and poems from the anthology that are also published in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

"Ghost Fishing is the first anthology to focus solely on poetry with an eco-justice bent. A culturally diverse collection entering a field where nature poetry anthologies have historically lacked diversity, this book presents a rich terrain of contemporary environmental poetry with roots in many cultural traditions."

Contributers include Homero Aridjis, Brenda Cárdenas, Natalie Diaz, Camille T. Dungy, Martín Espada, Ross Gay, Joy Harjo, Brenda Hillman, Linda Hogan, Philip Metres, Naomi Shihab Nye, Tolu Ogunlesi, Wang Ping, Patrick Rosal, Tim Seibles, Danez Smith, Arthur Sze, Eleanor Wilner, and Javier Zamora.

 Learn more at University of Georgia Press' website or Split This Rock's website.

PAST MARCH 2021 PROGRAMMING


"Of Science and Kinship: Indigenous Geopoetics" with Kimberly Blaeser | Wednesday, March 3, 6:30-8:30 pm EST

Light green rectangle with Poetry Coalition logo on the left and a photo of poet and workshop facilitator Kimberly Blaeser on the right. Kimberly Blaeser is standing in a wooded area, wearing a long-sleeved black lace jacket and Indigenous geometric print skirt.

On March 3, Split This Rock hosted a free, virtual writing workshop with Kimberly Blaeser that asked: How can we celebrate in poetry the dynamics of our rashly interconnected universe? This workshop will draw upon Indigenous teachings as participants consider 1) the ways language patterns can honor and enact an awareness of the animate world and the elemental interdependence of humans and the planet, and 2) potential ways we can free song language from the page. ASL and CART service were available and questions about accessibility could be sent to us at access@splitthisrock.org. Space was limited to the first 25 registrants. 

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP FACILITATOR

Kimberly Blaeser, past Wisconsin Poet Laureate, is the author of five poetry collections including Copper Yearning, Apprenticed to Justice, and, in 2020, the bi-lingual Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. An Indigenous activist and environmentalist from White Earth Reservation, she edited Traces in Blood, Bone, and Stone: Contemporary Ojibwe Poetry. Blaeser is a Professor at University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and MFA faculty for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. Her photographs, picto-poems, and ekphrastic pieces have been included in exhibits such as “Ancient Light” and “Visualizing Sovereignty.” She lives in rural Wisconsin; and, for portions of each year, in a water-access cabin near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. Blaeser is founding director of the literary organization In-Na-Po—Indigenous Nations Poets. Photo of Kimberly Blaeser by John Fisher.

Read poems by Kimberly Blaeser in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

 

"Digesting What’s in the Way" with Naomi Ortiz, A Free Virtual Writing Workshop
Wednesday, March 17, 6:30-8:30 pm EST

Light green rectangle with Poetry Coalition logo on the left and a photo of poet and workshop facilitator Naomi Ortiz on the right. Naomi Ortiz, a light-skinned Mestiza with short dark hair, wears an earring with a concentric circle design that swings below her hairline. She appears in black and white and looks intently to the side. The backdrop is a mountain, cacti, and desert trees.

Disability justice and eco-justice rarely are explored in the same mouthful, but are in constant conversation in our world. As poets, how can we expand on and complicate the dialogue between these two movements? In what ways do disability justice and eco-justice co-mingle? On March 17, Split This Rock hosted a free, virtual writing workshop with Naomi Ortiz focused on these questions. ASL and CART service were available and questions about accessibility could be sent to us at access@splitthisrock.org. Space was limited to the first 25 registrants.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR

Naomi Ortiz is a Poet, Writer, Facilitator, and Visual Artist whose work focuses on self-care for activists, disability justice, intersectional organizing, eco-justice, and relationship with place. Ortiz is the author of Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice (Reclamation Press), a book exploring self-care tools and strategies for diverse communities. She is a 2019 Zoeglossia Poetry Fellow whose poems have been published in We Are Not Your Metaphor: A Disability Poetry Anthology, on websites such as Poems and Numbers and VIDA, and performed at events such as the Disability Pride Parade in Chicago. Ortiz is a Disabled Mestiza living in the Arizona U.S./Mexico borderlands. Photo of Naomi Ortiz by Rachel Scoggins.

Read poems by Naomi Ortiz in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.