After the reading, we assembled together for a silent march to Lafayette Park. A silent march struck me as another bit of irony (poets marching silently?) but the organizers pointed out that there is enough screaming in the world, and in DC, and perhaps we could be more powerful in silence.

Floppy saw that they were handing out signs that read "War ( Read more... )

The final reading of Split This Rock was supposed to have been the one I was looking forward to all weekend, because it was when Sharon Olds was slated to read. Olds is one of my poetic heroes, and I was excited to see her read in person, since I never had. But she didn't show. She was apparently sick, although a famous poet sitting near me who ( Read more... )

I dragged myself out of bed Easter morning to go to the final panel of the conference, an evaluation and wrap-up session with some of its organizers and DC Poets Against the War founders, Sarah Browning, Melissa Tuckey, Joseph Ross, and Esther Iverem.

The program started late, so I had a crab eggs benedict and good tea and ended up joined for ( Read more... )

The 8:00 reading for Split This Rock day 3 was a blockbuster, including Dennis Brutus, Kenneth Carroll, Mark Doty, Carolyn Forche, and Alicia Ostriker, and I am not going to try to review all of that. Instead, just the highlights.

Mark Doty began with a gorgeous snippet of a poem by Taha Muhammed Ali:

And so
it has taken me
all of sixty years
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I came back to the festival for the 5 p.m. reading, which featured Coleman Barks, Pamela Uschuk, and Belle Waring. Lucille Clifton was supposed to be there, but fell ill, so the reading began with Sarah Browning and the poets each reading one of her poems, which was a nice tribute, although not as nice as having her there in person would have been.

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I dragged myself out of bed this morning to attend a walking tour of the Harlem Renaissance in Washington
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I went home for a brief break after the Policy and Poetry, and didn't make it back in time for either of the readings, which was a terrible pity, but I did go to the wonderful open mike MCed by Regie Cabico and the Princess of Controversy. I would call the Princess more of a Hip Hop musician than a poet, but I did think she was very good, and very ( Read more... )

Next I went to Discussion on Poetry and Policy sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies
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Then I went to "Off the Page and Into the Streets: Reports from the Field," a panel about poets organizing and agitating with their work, hosted by Nathaniel Siegel and Susan Brennan
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We began the morning as a family, with breakfast at Busboys and Poets
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