100 Thousand Poets for Change at Working Title Farm

100 THOUSAND POETS FOR CHANGE AT WORKING TITLE FARM

On a late Saturday afternoon last year an estimated 20,000 poets gathered in more than 500 cities and 90 countries to read poems about peace and sustainability, teach workshops, and strengthen their voices through unity. This internationally coordinated effort to focus the largest poetry reading ever on socially-conscious themes was the brainchild of California poets, Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion of Big Bridge Press.

In North Carolina, more than 100 poets participated in events in nearly two dozen different cities. Hickory's event drew 23 poets and another 2 dozen listeners. Selected poems from NC's events were published in Wild Goose Poetry Review, and documents from the more than 700 events worldwide were archived at Stanford University.

On September 29, we're going to do it all again. This time there are even more events scheduled in more than 700 cities and 115 countries. The Catawba County event will be hosted by Claremont writer and arts advocate Shari Smith from 2:00 to 4:00 at her Working Title Farm (4694 S. Depot Street).

The focus of the poems will be peace, sustainability, tolerance, and diversity. All work will again be archived at Stanford University, and selected poems will again be published in the fall issue of Wild Goose Poetry Review.

Scheduled participants this year will include NC Poet Laureate Nominees Tony Abbott and Scott Owens, award-winning Gastonia poet David Poston, Dead Mule Poetry Editor Helen Losse, Caldwell Community College Professor Nancy Posey, and at least a dozen others, including students from CVCC and Lenoir Rhyne.

Anyone is welcome to attend. Anyone interested in reading should contact Scott Owens at 828-234-4266 or asowens1@yahoo.com. Additional information on the 100 Thousand Poets for Change initiative is available at http://www.bigbridge.org/100thousandpoetsforchange/.