If you need a more accessible or web version of this email, click here.
|
|
Split This Rock cultivates, teaches, and celebrates poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes social change. |
|
Dear Community,
In the essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” Audre Lorde states "Poetry is not only dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before."
As we imagine a future of change at Split This Rock, we know it's essential for there to be opportunities to dream and build together through poetry. We're immensely grateful for everyone who joined us for our first community gathering in November. Participants shared what they considered the essential elements of Split This Rock's work and brainstormed ideas for adjusted program offerings that could embody those elements while honoring the organization's true capacity. We're gearing up to host our next gathering and hope you'll be part of the process. To let us know you're interested, complete this short form if you haven't done so already. We welcome you into the work of shaping change at Split This Rock.
Today, we're excited to announce the 10 Most Read Poems in The Quarry that were published in 2021! Check them out below. The top poem was visited more than 1,100 times since it was published in March. This year alone, the poetry database has had over 15,000 visits! We're thrilled to know The Quarry continues to be a meaningful resource for the many communities we serve.
If we had $1 for every visit to The Quarry this year, we could access a $30,000 gift! The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has once again granted us a challenge grant. For every donation from a new supporter or increased gift from an existing donor we receive, they will match it -- up to $15,000! If you read and loved, shared, or taught poems from The Quarry this year, consider making an increased or first-time donation today to support this home for social justice poetry. No donation is too small, and every donation helps.
Visit Split This Rock's online giving portal to make a one-time donation or become a sustaining monthly donor today.
Every donation during fallow season helps prepare us for a harvest of programming & work culture more deeply rooted in our core values. Learn more about what we're striving to manifest in Split This Rock's future at our website.
We thank everyone who has contributed time, energy, and resources throughout the years -- and especially during the pandemic! Your investments and partnerships make Split This Rock's bravest efforts possible.
May we continue to imagine new ways forward through poetry!
With steadfast appreciation,
Split This Rock
|
|
Image Description: Black header text reads Greetings from Fallow Season July 1 2021 through April 1 2022. Words hover over and above an illustration of a yellow sun rising from green fields under a blue sky. Three yellow dots surround the illustration.
|
|
Fallow Season
Thought for the Day
|
|
“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is -- it’s to imagine what is possible.” ― bell hooks |
|
Announcing the
10 Most Read Poems of 2021
|
|
Annually, we take 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.
This week, we present the year’s 10 Most Read Poems published in 2021.
We know well how a single poem is a perpetual gift to its audience -- nourishing us again each time we receive it. We hope these poems blossom into an infinite resource of creative stimulation, activation, inspiration, and soothing for you. Thank you for reading!
3.“Stone” by Aideed Medina
Content Notice: refers to imperialism & military occupation
Content Notice: Black death via anti-Black violence
5."We" by Deborah A. Miranda
Content Notice: anti-Indigeneity; anti-Blackness; slavery; settler colonial state violence"
Content Notice: anti-Black violence; mention of sexual assault; death
Content Notice: mention of suicidal ideation, slur
Content Notice: refers to grief, settler colonialism, anti-Indigenous violence & genocide
Content Notice: death, grief, refers to imperialism
-----------------------------
This year alone, there have been over 15,000 visits to The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database! If we had $1 for every visit to The Quarry this year, we could access a $30,000 gift!
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has once again granted us a challenge grant. For every donation from a new supporter or increased gift from an existing donor we receive, they will match it -- up to $15,000! If you have read, taught, or shared poems from The Quarry for protest, awareness building, or personal nourishment, consider making a donation today.
Visit Split This Rock's online giving portal to make a one-time donation or become a sustaining monthly donor today.
Learn more about what we're striving to manifest in Split This Rock's future, as well as how to send a donation by mail, at our website.
|
|
Image Description: Split This Rock’s red logo is centered at the top with white text in a solid black box under it that says "Top Poems of 2021." Collaged photos in square frames of the 10 featured poets surround the text. In the top left corner is a photo of Tamiko Beyer. In the top right corner is I. S. Jones. From left to right in the second row is Nathan Spoon, Deborah A. Miranda, Aideed Medina, and Darrel Alejandro Holnes. From left to right in the bottom row is Yesenia Montilla, Jennifer Falú, Juan J. Morales, and Laura Tohe.
Photo Credits: Tamiko Beyer by Susi Franco, I. S. Jones by Nicholas Nichols, Nathan Spoon by Allison Steinquest, Deborah A. Miranda by Margo Solod, Darrel Alejandro Holnes by Thomas Kuhn, Yesenia Montilla by Ana Leiva, Jennifer Falú by Roger Britton for BRenaissancePhotography, Juan J. Morales by Patti Freeman Schreiber, and Laura Tohe by J. Morgan Edwards.
|
|
Tell Us About Your New Books! |
|
As much as we'd like to cheer for all the new books that arrive or get announced between now and April 1, 2022, we know our capacity to do so with much fairness is limited during fallow season. We are continuing to pay attention to new publications and poets that we might spotlight when we relaunch next year. To tell us about your new book or a new book you think we should know about, complete this short online form. We've also started a thread on Twitter as an open invitation to alert us about new books -- please chime in!
|
|
While Split This Rock is in its fallow season and the Poem of the Week Series is on pause, we hope you'll continue visiting The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database. There you'll find:
- a FREE online resource for educators, organizers, poets -- everyone!
- over 600 poems, searchable by social justice themes, poet identity, geography, format, and more
- a celebration of contemporary socially engaged poets
If you're moved to share the poems, we welcome you to do so with credit to the poet & The Quarry.
|
|
Image Description: Text that reads "Split This Rock presents The Quarry A Social Justice Poetry Database" appears over a black background. The words "Split This Rock" are in white print and each word is within a slanted red box. All other text is white.
|
|
Stay in Touch with Split This Rock |
|
Follow Split This Rock on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
