INKpals (Partnerships Affecting Literacy)

On February 10 at 7:30 pm, Robert Pinsky, Rosanna Warren, Jorie Graham, and a dozen other Boston-area poets will join together for a collaborative reading to benefit “Partners in Health” and the people of Haiti. It will take place at Longfellow Hall/Harvard,Appian Way, Cambridge, MA. Kim Triedman has been organizing this benefit with Jim Henle from Harvard, and they will be co-chairing this event.

Requested donation will be $10, with all proceeds going to Partners in Health (PIH).  Poets’ books will also be on sale, with all proceeds after cost going to PIH.  The event is being co-sponsored by the Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard and Harvard’s Technical and Clerical Workers Union, which is providing much-needed logistical support.

We have to say it’s amazing how responsive people have been – the poets themselves, Harvard, individuals donating time and resources of various sorts.  We’ve got people from so many institutions around Boston working on this.  It’s going to be an incredible event on so many levels — a true collaboration.  Please support us in any way you can!

All best-Kim Triedman and Jim Henle

It is such a pleasure to see that poetry and the spoken word is being celebrated once again beyond the basement and small stage of clubs and bars. It is great to see that young poetic voices are given the opportunity to speak to an audience that has their hands on the world’s political pulse.

For so long the voice of the poet has been the voice of change but has

remained on the back burner for the longest time. If the world is at a point where it is looking for change we can believe in, I welcome the call for poetry we can believe, again.

From the White House: Poetry, Music and the Spoken Word

Enzo Surin INK Literacy Initiative: INKpals

Participation in this initiative is very simple. You have to be a teacher or a poet who whole-heartedly believes poetry can be used as a meaningful tool in increasing literacy. We are providing these resources free of charge and all we ask is that you are willing to share your own resources free of charge.

In fact, that’s the way INKpals works. You can send in your assignments for approval and I will post them on here for everyone else to use. You are free to use any assignments on here as well to benefit your lessons.

We also ask that you pass on the word to your fellow teachers and poets so we can take illiteracy head on and defeat it.