Poet and Black Ocean Editor Janaka Stucky announced Friday a new endeavor to simultaneously build upper body strength and help bolster the most important poetry library in the U.S.

Stucky is seeking sponsors for Push Ups for Poetry, a fund-raiser designed to raise money for Poets House. The event is similar to a Walk-a-Thon; sponsors are to pledge a dollar amount per push-up.

Stucky’s goal, he says, is to “complete 100 push-ups without taking a break.” He will train over the next few weeks, and perform his task on Labor Day.

“This is not a herculean task by any stretch of the imagination, but it is also something decidedly difficult for most of us who aren’t in solid athletic shape,” Stucky says on the event’s blog.

He adds, “I’m really drawn to the idea of using an aggressively physical activity to fundraise for an intensely cerebral cause. I love paradoxes and subversion, and this endeavor works against stereotypes in both directions.”

Stucky, who has already found two $100 sponsors, says he’s “a big guy: currently 6’3″, 220 lbs”–and as a result, has often sought ways to “use [his] physical strength to help people.”

This line of thinking has led him to other physical endeavors, such as building houses for Habitat for Humanity. It also led him–“in a circuitous route”–to seven years as an undertaker.

Pledges can be made at the Push Ups for Poetry blog.

Poets House, located in Manhattan, archives thousands of new poetry titles every year and comprises the single most thorough collection of poetry in the country. Stucky says he decided to raise money for Poets House because it is “a well-run foundation, with an exceptional amount of integrity.”

Poets House is in the process of moving further downtown, to Battery Park City, where it will enjoy at least 60 years of rent-free archiving and event-holding. “Donating now,” Stucky says, “will help ensure that the transition goes smoothly, and that they’re able to really take advanatge of everything that this fantastic new space has to offer.”

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