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2024 Poetry Coalition Programming

Split This Rock is proud to be a member of The Poetry Coalition, a national alliance of nearly 30 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. The Poetry Coalition's 2024 slate of programs in the spring and summer reflect the transformative impact poetry has on individual readers and communities across the nation, and is made possible in part by the Academy of American Poets with support from the Mellon Foundation. Follow along on social media at #PoetryCoalition.

Poem of the Week Features Palestinian Poets

Throughout the months of July and August, our Poem of the Week Series is featuring the work of Palestinian poets. In alignment with our October statement, we condemn Israel's genocide in Gaza and reiterate our solidarity with Palestinians in their ongoing struggle for liberation.

 

Join us in sharing and amplifying the work of these poets through the summer and beyond. 

 

 Self Realizing and Actualization through Character Building with Siaara Freeman

 

In this Poetry Writing Capsule with Siaara Freeman, listeners and viewers will explore identity politics and self care by creating a character who may have the words when they do not.

Siaara Freeman is from Cleveland, Ohio, where she is the current Poet Laureate for Cleveland Heights and University Heights, she is also the unofficial Lake Erie Siren. She is a 2023 Room in the House fellow with Karamu Theater, a 2022 Catapult fellow with Cleveland Public Theater, and a 2021 Premier Playwright fellow recipient with Cleveland Public Theater. In 2021, Siaara filmed a commercial for the Cleveland Museum of Art. She is a 2020 Watering Hole Manuscript fellow, 2018 Poetry Foundation incubator fellow and a four-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize. Her work appears in The Journal, Josephine Quarterly, Cleveland Magazine and elsewhere. She has had multiple poems go viral and has toured both nationally and internationally. Her first full- length manuscript Urbanshee is available with Button Poetry and is a 2023 finalist for the Audre Lorde Award with The Publishing Triangle, as well as a 2023 Silver award winner for the Benjamin Franklin IPBA award for Poetry. When she is not working, she is likely by a lake, thinking of Toni Morrison and talking to ghosts. She is growing her Afro so tall, God uses it as a microphone and speaks through her.

Image Description of Graphic: On the left, Split This Rock's red logo appears with bold white text beneath that reads: "[Split This Rock] presents Self Realizing and Actualization through Character Building with Siaara Freeman. A Poetry Writing Capsule." On the right is a photo of Siaara Freeman. Siaara, a Black girl in wings, smiles with her eyes closed and holds a bouquet of flowers to her face. In addition to wearing wings, she wears butterflies in her afro and a pale green floral dress. Photo of Siaara Freeman by Danni Warren. The graphic has a red boarder and a large red play button appears in the center over the image.