Paulette Swartzfager-Rochester, New York

Organizer: Paulette Swartzfager

Contact: pswartzpk@gmail.com

Some poets and musicians have come together in Rochester to plan for a really innovative series of public arts actions to participate in this year’s international 100 Thousand Poets and Musicians for Change. Last year, there was a day long event at the Flying Squirrel, but this year we are going to do guerrilla poetry events–for a few days near the Sat Sept 29th international day. We began to wonder how we could emphasize the political power of poetry and art, rather than just having another endless open mic. There are Rochester activists like Take Back the Land, Anti Fracking groups, social justice and worker justice groups, etc. We see them in the streets or at actions all the time. What if poets/musicians showed up and used art as activism (called artivism in some venues). What if we came together in flash mob kinds of ways to read poetry or play music in the malls or on the streets? What if we left poetry in public spaces?

I have agreed to be the central point of contact for the various organizing groups. What does this mean for you? Well if you have an idea for public poetry or music, let me know. If you want to participate in a reading or a more political action (like reading poetry on a public street in coordination with a radical group), let me know. The point here is that we are hoping as an artist and poet you think about this time in creative, our of the box ways, and decide your own action and comfort level.

Obviously we are emphasizing the CHANGE in this poets and musician for change event. There are good reasons to read works from our books to poetry audiences, but we have lots of opportunities for that. Those of us who are meeting to plan these days are hoping for more. Will you join us?

Paulette

“One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in World House

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Instead of a single day long poetry reading like last year, Dwain Wilder and Paulette Swartzfager are organizing a series of poetry actions in the Rochester Area. Contact Dwain or Paulette if you are interested in joining one of these actions.

Some of the opportunities for you to participate in the Rochester Region include:

Friday, Sept 21 – Poetry for the People
Noon til 3pm : East Ave –beginning at Spot Coffee
Poetry on Post It Notes will be hung all along the Fringe Fest Route—look for lines and lines from the guerilla poets on poles, boxes, windows, etc. Take poems/lines home, add to them, share them. From time to time, poets might be gathering to read aloud to people along the route.

4 til 7pm : Monroe Ave – beginning at Gitsies
Poetry on Post It Notes will be hung all along the Fringe Fest Route—look for lines and lines from the guerilla poets on poles, boxes, windows, etc. Take poems/lines home, add to them, share them.

Friday, Sept. 28 – Brockport place tba
Poetry Collaborations and Chalkfest.

Thursday, Oct. 4th – at the Flying Squirrel Community Space.
Pure Kona hosts an open mic for Poets and Musicians for Change. Contact = Mike Rae
100 Thousand Poets for Change event #1

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TODAY! beginning at noon at SPOT coffee on East:
Poetry for the People
Noon til 3pm : East Ave –beginning at Spot Coffee
Poetry on Post It Notes will be hung all along the Fringe Fest Route—look for lines and lines from the guerilla poets on poles, boxes, windows, etc. Take poems/lines home, add to them, share them. From time to time, poets might be gathering to read aloud to people along the route.

4 til 7pm : Monroe Ave – beginning at Gitsies
Poetry on Post It Notes will be hung all along the Fringe Fest Route—look for lines and lines from the guerilla poets on poles, boxes, windows, etc. Take poems/lines home, add to them, share them. — with David Trout and 26 others at Spot Coffee.

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