Split This Rock Returns from Fallow Season July 1
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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
- “Reclaim” by Adele Hampton
- “Seahorse and Empty” by Elliot Frost
- “Temple” by Rayna Momen
- “when white supremacy kills me” by Justice Ameer
- “The World Where It Is” by Beth Spencer
- “Prayer for those who run” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- “For What I Am About to Do” by Anna B. Sutton
- “Abortion in the Garden of Eden” by Venus Thrash
- “We are not reconciled to the oppressors who whet their howl on our grief.” by Danielle Badra
- “Saraswati praises your name even when you have no choice” by Purvi Shah
- “Do not make Grief your God” by Mahogany L. Browne
- “love isn’t” by Pat Parker
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
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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!
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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.