ORGANIZER: Susan Lamont
CONTACT: peacenik@sonic.net
Bring Down the Walls!
the walls that divide us; the walls that enclose us
A celebration of the 5th anniversary of 100 Thousand Poets for Change
Friday, September 25th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Poetry by Sonoma County Poets and Music by Sonoma County Musicians
We are also sharing poetry with our Sister City poets from Cairo, Egypt
Poetry by Chad Bolla, Abby Bogomolny, Zandra, Clare Morris, Monique McMath, Kym Trippsmith, Terri Carrion and Michael Rothenberg
Music by Karym, Abraham Entin (a capella), Yonat and Attila Nagy
$5 admission toward purchase of food or drink – support the venue that supports us
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Greetings from the Poets of Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California to the Poets of Cairo, Egypt on the Fifth Anniversary of 100 Thousand Poets for Change September 2015
100 Thousand Poets for Change was created for just such exchanges – poets reaching across borders and oceans to speak with and support one another. For the tens of thousands of us who could not meet in Salerno in June, this is the next best thing. The physical separation may be great, but caring and struggle unite us.
Here in California we will be speaking of walls: the ones that divide us, the ones that enclose us, the ones that are constructed by others, the ones we erect as individuals: the walls of class, nationality, racism, gender identity, religion, self-delusion, ego – don’t get me started! These walls make it so difficult to know ourselves and to know you. We must bring them down! Only then will we really see each other and ourselves clearly. Only then will we really comprehend how much we share. As poets, we can taste the possibility, but we aren’t there yet.
Here in the “land of the free,” we have border walls, the highest prison walls in the world, gated communities, fences between neighbors we do not know. We have been raised to believe that we are freer than you, freer than people anywhere. But the choice of one hundred kinds of cereal at the supermarket is not freedom. Our choices in orchestrated elections are not freedom. Here in the United States, poets are saying this! They are saying, “We are not free!” and they are speaking a different vision.
So, today we reach across continents and an ocean to say, “Sisters! Brothers! We hear you. Hear us. We are united in struggle. We are honored to have been speaking out with you for five years! We will speak it so loudly that the walls will crumble. If we are to survive, it must be so!”
In peace and friendship,
Susan Lamont and 100 Thousand Poets for Change, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County
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