The Quarry’s 10 Most-Viewed Poems of 2018
We are delighted to present the 10 most-viewed poems published in Split This Rock’s social justice poetry database, The Quarry, in 2018. Grace Lee Boggs taught that “organizing is to the community what spiritual practice is to the individual.” May these poems support you in both practices, during National Poetry month and beyond.
The three most viewed poems of all-time include two from the suite of poems published in January 2017 in protest of the inauguration: Aracelis Girmay’s “You Are Who I Love” and Richard Blanco’s "Declaration of Inter-Dependence.” The third all-time, most-viewed poem is also the number one poem of 2018! Here it is along with its powerful companions:
- To the woman I saw today who wept in her car, by Bianca Lynne Spriggs
- The Santa Ana, by Paul Tran
- In Translation, by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Frequently asked Questions #7, by Camille T. Dungy
- The Day After American Samoa Is Under Water, by Terisa Siagatonu
- Ars Politica, by Laurie Ann Guerrero
- Abecedarian Yellow, by Dan Vera
- a reading guide: for white people reading my book, by Britteney Black Rose Kapri
- Calvinist Parents, by Sharon Olds
- Cactus Flower, by Amir Rabiyah
We invite readers to find these poems in The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, along with their 600-plus kin. These poems are fuel for the long work of resisting the old world while imagining a new one. The poems are searchable by social justice theme and poet identity. Since its launch in 2015, poems in this collection have been viewed over 350,000 times! You may read previous collections of most-viewed poems at Split This Rock’s blog, Blog This Rock.
The Quarry is available as a free resource for educators, writers, readers, organizers for use as prompts for classes and workshops, to focus discussions and open meetings, in advocacy and community work, and keeping one’s own flame glowing. If you use these poems, or others from The Quarry, in these or other innovative ways, please tell us your story by emailing us at info@splitthisrock.org.
M. F. Simone Roberts
Managing Editor / Curator