You may be familiar with PoemCity, Montpelier's annual downtown display of locally-penned poetry. Now Randolph is getting in on the act for National Poetry Month in April.
Randolph's PoemTown project is currently accepting submissions from poets throughout Vermont. The submission deadline is Feb. 1, 2014. The call for submissions states:
A centerpiece of the event, modeled after Montpelier’s popular PoemCity, will be 11 X 17” posters of poems by Vermonters, displayed in the main windows and doors of businesses, churches, and organizations in Randolph and its related villages. Poems will be displayed throughout the month of April 2014. PoemTown organizers report that businesses have enthusiastically embraced the idea for poetry display in their windows.
Submission guidelines are as follows:
- Submission is open to poets of all ages who are Vermont residents.
- Submissions must be postmarked by Feb, 1, 2014.
- Please send no more than three poems.
- If you do not use a computer, handwritten or typed poems will be accepted.
- Poems can be no longer than 24 lines each.
- Please include your name, city/town of residence, email address, and phone number on the back of your poem page but do not include this information on the front of your poem.
- Please do not re-submit work that has been displayed at previous Poetry Alive! or PoemCity displays in Montpelier or that has previously appeared in print.
- By sending your work to PoemTown 2014, poets agree that PoemTown may use any poem in display, in promotional materials and associated online, print and other media.
- Poems may be submitted via mail to one of the Co-Directors for PoemTown Randolph: Marjorie Ryerson; P.O. Box44; Randolph, VT 05060 or Peggy Whiteneck; P.O. Box 303; East Randolph, VT 05041
PoemTown organizers have also assembled a slate of poetry readings and events for the month of April. They include:
- April 3 – poetry reading by Vermont poet laureate Sydney Lea
- April 15 – a shared reading by Vermont poets Samn Stockwell and Pamela Harrison
- April 10 – an open mic reading at which any Vermont poet may read
- April 21 – a PoJazz event at which a jazz quartet will play while poets Geof Hewitt and Tony Whedon and writers Angela Palm and Jessica Hendry Nelson read
PoemTown Randolph will culminate with a celebration called “Powerful Poems and Decadent Desserts” at Chandler Center for the Arts on May 1.