Miller Poetry Room
This room was presented as a gift to the Library by the class of 1930 in memory of fellow classmate, Marjorie Wright Miller, who was a writer of poetry. This comfortable space is used for small group meetings. There are also small classes held in this area, please check the schedule located nearby.
https://www.splitthisrock.org/
“Split This Rock cultivates, teaches, and celebrates poetry that bears witness to injustice and provokes social change. It calls poets to a greater role in public life and fosters a national network of socially engaged poets. Building the audience for poetry of provocation and witness from our home in the nation’s capital, we celebrate poetic diversity and the transformative power of the imagination.”
The name "Split This Rock" is pulled from a line in “Big Buddy,” a poem from Langston Hughes.
Don’t you hear this hammer ring?
I’m gonna split this rock
And split it wide!
When I split this rock,
Stand by my side.
“The work of writing the poems that split open the injustices in society is in some ways a solitary act, but it is also an act that requires community. Split This Rock calls all of us to split this rock, and to do it together.”
Be sure to sign up for a Poem-a-Day! (The poems are previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets, as well as classic poems, delivered daily).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/
"The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience."