Poems on the Comet 2020

It’s time to put poems on Columbia’s buses again, and this time we are thinking about time!

Calendars, clocks, alarms, schedules, timetables. The seasons, holidays, weekends, birthdays, anniversaries, the sun and the moon. The clock on the scoreboard, the calendar of migrating birds at the feeder. When the tulips bloom, when the ginkos turn gold, and when pollen coats everything. What marks time in your neighborhood—school buses, the mail truck, the leaf-blowers on Saturday morning? Church bells and calls to prayer. Rites of passage, growing up, growing old, fitness regimes and family reunions. How do we measure the passage of time, how do you experience time?

In 2015 we told the stories of the city. In 2017, we saw poems about rivers. In 2018, we thought about how we experience the city, what separates us and what unites us. We’ve been mapping the geography and spaces of the city, so now we want to think about the times and seasons of the city.

Requirements:  Poems should be 10 lines or fewer and should address the theme.  Submit to poetlaureate@onecolumbiasc.com for consideration. DEADLINE MARCH 16. (Earlier submissions appreciated.)

Download a PDF of this call here.