The Social Justice Team at Tree of Life Unitarian Universalist Congregation is inviting poets to participate in Poets in Resistance Again, a public reading scheduled for Saturday, January 11, 2025, from 7 to 10 p.m. The event will take place at the congregation’s location at 5603 Bull Valley Road, McHenry.
The event aims to showcase a diverse range of voices, including poets of all ages, gender identities, races, ethnicities, and spiritual backgrounds. Submissions are welcome from poets working in various styles, including poetry slam, hip-hop, performance art, observational, personal reflection, traditional, rhymed, unrhymed, and academic poetry. Poets are asked to submit a representative piece of their work, though it does not need to be the piece they plan to read at the event.
The event will feature 10 to 12 poets, with a few alternates selected in case of cancellations. Each poet will be given a 10-minute time slot. Poets may choose to read from a podium, use a stand-up microphone, sit on a stool, or roam the stage with a wireless mic. Space will also be available for poets to sell books, chapbooks, CDs, or other materials.
The first Poets in Resistance program, held in March 2017, was one of Tree of Life’s most successful public events. Event organizer Patrick Murfin, who also serves as the chair of the Social Justice Team, highlighted the historic role of poets as voices for the voiceless, often in defiance of authority and at great personal risk. He emphasized that with the current challenges facing the world, including climate disaster, war, and threats to democracy, the need for these voices is more urgent than ever.
The call for a new program is inspired by a quote from Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison:
“This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence. Like failure, chaos contains information that can lead to knowledge — even wisdom. Like art.”
The event will be free to the public, though a suggested $20 donation will be accepted. Donations will be split between Tree of Life’s social justice ministries and select social justice organizations actively working on the front lines.
