POETRY OF THE POSSIBLE: Fierce Love and Wise Words in Times of Great Change

“Music is My Medicine! Kindness is my Song!" —Dedan Gills

In this pivotal moment, we are coming together to innovate a way forward, a new world – where we see that our fates are integrally linked.

A poem can save a life. A song can bring us back from the depths of despair. The power of art, rhythm, and words together can help a human heart heal, spark vivid imagination, and connect us to our passion to act.

Join Alli Chagi-Starr, Founder of Linked Fates Strategies, in discussion with writer and human rights activist, Belvie Rooks who will be celebrating poet Dedan Gills. She'll be reading some of his poetry in honor of his birthday. And Poet Drew Dellinger who will share some of his personal gems. Actor Danny Glover will also be reading some of Dedan's works.

Together we'll dive deep into the unknown while hearing the familiar with new ears as we explore how to transform the things that hurt us into something that both heals us and reveals tremendous beauty and value.

We start at 3PM PT, 6PM ET.

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

“Drew Dellinger is one of the most creative, courageous and prophetic poets of his generation. I love his spirit. Don’t miss him!” - Cornel West

Drew Dellinger, Ph.D., is an internationally known speaker, writer, poet, and teacher who has lectured and taught extensively across the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and many other publications, and he is author of the award-winning poetry collection, Love Letter to the Milky Way, and the upcoming book, The Ecological King: Martin Luther King Jr. and Interconnectedness. Dellinger has lectured at numerous colleges and universities and has taught at Prescott College, Schumacher College, Naropa University–Oakland, the Sophia Center, CIIS, and John F. Kennedy University, where he was Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Social Ecology. Currently, Dellinger is Scholar-in-Residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute at Stanford University. Dellinger has been called "a national treasure," by Joanna Macy, "a deep and courageous poet," by Alice Walker, and "one of the most creative, courageous, and prophetic voices of his generation," by Cornel West. www.drewdellinger.org Twitter: @drewdellinger

"Drew's poems for global justice bring light to these leaden times, helping us to see and defend the beauty of our world." - Joanna Macy

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"There is the beauty of the small things and there are those times when the heart must break open in order to hold the big things—it’s the breaking open that creates the room to hold it all. Let the words in this book guide you home, to the origin, to love.” —Julia “Butterfly” Hill

Belvie Rooks is an essayist, educator, mentor, producer, and human rights activist whose work and vision weave together the worlds of spirituality, feminism, ecology ....and social justice. Belvie and poet Dedan Gills (1945-2015) were married in Accra, Ghana in 2007. Their recent book, I Give You the Springtime of My Blushing Heart: a Poetic Love Song is a poetic chronicling of their love story and their journey together, which included the life-changing impact of their pilgrimage to a West African slave dungeon. Belvie and Dedan are also two of the featured contributors in Dr. Fran Grace’s The Power of Love: A Transformed Heart Changes the World, which in 2019 won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for “Best Inspirational Book!” Both books published by InnerPathway.

“This beautiful and engaging love story by two friends and lifelong human rights and social justice activists models what love can be in these times.” —Danny Glover