BUS LINES

POEMS ON METRO TRANSIT BUSES GUIDELINES: Deadline is: September 30, 2012

Introduction to the Program—
Bus Lines creates an opportunity for local high school students to display their poems inside Metro Transit Buses for a year and brings poetry before city residents in a creative way.

Authors of accepted poems grant permission to the Madison Arts Commission to display their poems in the buses of Metro and in future publications promoting the Bus Lines program.

Selection Committee—
Sarah Busse and Wendy Vardaman, Madison Poets Laureate
Representative of Library
Representative of MMSD
Chair of MAC

Eligibility—
The competition is open to all current high school students who reside in the City of Madison. By submitting these poems, you agree that you are their sole author. Copyright remains with authors. Previous Bus Lines winners are ineligible. Poets will have the opportunity to workshop the selected poems with the Madison Poets Laureate and each other.

Submission Guidelines—

• Send short poems or short excerpts from longer poems (between 3 and 5 lines only, plus optional title) around the theme "In Motion."

Submit form with 1-3 poems by September 30, 2012 here: online application

CONTACT US

Karin Wolf
Madison Arts Program Administrator
Phone: (608) 261-9134
Fax: (608) 267-8739
Email: madisonarts@cityofmadison.com

WRITING TIPS

Writing for the Bus Lines "In Motion" Competition

Writing extremely short poems is one of the hardest challenges for a writer. Here are some prompts to get you moving.

Free write for fifteen minutes around the theme. After you have filled the time, and the page, read over what you have written. Highlight the three ideas or images that seem most interesting and write your poem(s) using those.

Find an old poem or story that you never quite felt was finished. Grab a pair of scissors and cut it into sentences, or even parts of sentences. Start moving those pieces around and see if any new combination works. Even if it doesn't it may get your imagination going.

Find a long poem, pick out its strongest line, and make a new, short poem.

Contrasting images and ideas smashed together often make a poem jump off the page. A few vivid details will go a long way in a short poem. So will a good, telling line of dialogue. Word choice is really important in a short poem, as are strong, well-chosen verbs, and good titles, if you use one.

Remember that these are public poems. You may want to write about yourself, but you may want to try writing from the point of view of someone else: someone you know, someone you've read about, a fictional character, or your neighbor's shoes, for example. Or you could write about someone historical, contemporary, or made-up in the third person. In any case, you should think about how your poem will speak to others.

Download and Share this Bus Lines Flyer (PDF)