Call for Poetry Submissions
2019 Nashville Poetry in Motion®
Our Neighborhood
Overview: As part of the 2019 Nashville Poetry in Motion®, ten youth writers will have their poetry featured on MTA bus shelters beginning in April. Submissions by high school and middle school writers will be welcomed with a final submission deadline has been expended to Monday, January 21. From this pool of submissions, ten finalists will be selected and will have their poems featured on MTA shelters. Poems are limited to 25 words and 10 lines maximum.
Theme: Nashville is changing quickly, and we are watching our neighborhoods shift. How do we maintain our feeling of home and place amid a changing city? How can we update our definitions of home and community along with the changing landscape? How can we stay connected to the people and places around us?
We are requesting poems that remember an important aspect of your neighborhood that may be changing or disappearing; poems that celebrate improvements and newness in your neighborhood that bring optimism and possibility; poems that advocate for people or places in your neighborhood that do not have the power or voice to advocate for themselves; and poems about your neighborhood that help us remember our humanity and connection to the people and communities around us.
Writing Prompt: Here are some questions and thoughts to prompt writing. These prompts are intended as a starting point and should not set limits or boundaries on the ideas that emerge from them.
-Write a tribute to a person, place, or moment in your neighborhood.
-Personify an object or location in your neighborhood. What memory would it share? What thoughts or comments would it have?
-Write a poem that explains your neighborhood to someone who is just passing through.
-Create a roadmap or instructions for your future neighborhood.
-Describe your most cherished spot in your neighborhood.
Eligibility: Poetry in Motion® is open to any middle and high school age youth residing in Nashville. Each entrant may submit one poem of no more than 25 words and 10 lines in any style except concrete (shape poems) or black out poems (marker covering another author’s text to create a poem). The content of the poem should be the original, individual work of the entrant and needs to be appropriate for a general audience. Entrants must complete the entry form in its entirety and may submit no more than one poem. Employees and agents of Metro Nashville Government and their immediate families are ineligible and may not enter. Selected poets from last year’s Poetry in Motion® are also ineligible. All minors below the age of 18 who have their poem selected will need a parental release signed prior to publication.
Copyrights: The author retains all copyrights to the submitted poem. By entering the contest, you consent to the publication and usage of your poem by the Metro Arts and the program partners.
Notification and Acknowledgement: Selections will be announced in March. Metro Arts and its partners may include poems in other print and on-line materials as part of the program roll-out. Selected writers will receive a $100 honorarium for participation in the program and may be asked to appear at an acknowledgement event.
Privacy Policy: The Metro Arts and Southern Word collect personal information for the purpose of program communications and acknowledgments. The Metro Arts does not lease, sell, or share personal information collected.
Poems are limited to 25 words and 10 lines maximum. There are no entry fees. SUBMISSION DEADLINE has been extended to Monday, January 21st at 11:59pm.
