The Poetry Insurgency hosted a retreat in Singer's Glen, VA this weekend that was positively badass.  Big ups to Jess, Cherie, Michael and Laila for pulling together logistics, herding cats and developing the (anti-)agenda!

For those who couldn't make it, we:

• gathered 20 inspired creative revolutionaries, who arrived in carloads over the course of the weekend.  Most folks were from the DC crew, though Richmond and Baltimore were also represented
• wrote, workshopped and performed a series of group pieces exploring issues including the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon; the struggle against personal demons and doubts; and the insidious, creeping co-optation of a life "duped by the system";
• had slumber parties every night, with as many as 8 people in one room — sleeping bodies were strewn all over the house in the mornings
• cooked and munched out together.  I made tostones (fried plaintains with salt)!
• jammed late into the night by the fire
• enjoyed a blissful hour of silent meditation and writing on a sunny Saturday afternoon
• danced our asses off to old school funk on Saturday night.  With 20 folks, we were a party unto ourselves!
• dropped like flies during a pick up soccer game in which Lyndi (AKA Ronaldo) displayed a glimpse of athletic brilliance unseen since Michael Jordan retired from basketball.
• Visited a water hole in a nearby mountain stream fed by snowmelt, into which some of us (led by Ronaldo) leaped from a boulder 30 feet above the water!  Fadi threw me in…twice.
• met and welcomed Harrisonburg artists Noah and Winnie
• built some crazy intense community bonds

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