Welcome to The Visible Cities!
This blog will be "homepage" of sorts for a poetry project/residency that will be happening in & around the Quad Cities throughout the fall of 2009. This project is meant to encourage people to look more closely at their surroundings, the places in their lives, and to consider how those places impact their personality, and vice versa, through the lens of poetry.
In addition to moderating this site & participating in the public events October 19-22, 2009, I am inviting people to submit their own work to be considered for publication on this site and to read at a public reading on Thursday evening, Oct. 22 (location TBD). The prompt & all the details for submitting are listed below. Please contact me with any questions. Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to reading your work…
The Visible Cities Poetry Project: Call for Submissions
THE VISIBLE CITIES is a poetry project developed by Ryan Collins to coincide with a poetry residency he will have in the Quad City area October 19-22, 2009. The theme for this residency is: Looking at Place and Identity through Poetry: how do we shape the places around us, and how do those places shape us?
As part of this residency, Mr. Collins will be moderating a blog, called THE VISIBLE CITIES (www.visibleqc.blogspot.com), where he will post his own original content, links to poetry resources and information about local/regional arts and culture. Additionally, he will be posting poems submitted by local poets that best engage the theme as articulated in the submission guidelines.
Everyone who submits to THE VISIBLE CITES will receive a brief response to their work from Mr. Collins. The poets who most successfully engage the prompt will have their work posted on the blog. These poets will also have a biographical note posted with their poem(s), and will be invited to read their work at a public reading hosted by Mr. Collins on Thursday evening, October 22 at (location TBD).
Please read the prompt and follow the guidelines below to submit your work and be considered to read at THE VISIBLE CITIES community-wide poetry event:
PROMPT:
The idea for THE VISIBLE CITIES is a take on the book Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, in which the many cities of the Tartar Empire are described to emperor Kublai Khan by the explorer Marco Polo in the most spectacular detail. The chapters are arranged by the different modes by which these cities are described: Cities & Memory; Cities & Desire; Cities & Signs; Thin Cities; Trading Cities; Cities & Eyes; Cities & Names; Cities & the Dead; Cities & the Sky; Continuous Cities; Hidden Cities. For this project, please select one of these ways of looking at (or thinking of) the Quad Cities and its surrounding areas, your hometown or any other place that you feel has made an impact on your identity, and write a poem (or poems) from that perspective.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
-There is NO FEE for submitting to THE VISIBLE CITIES
-Please submit up to 3 original, unpublished poems (no more than 3 pages, please)
-Poets must reside in the following counties in Illinois and Iowa: Henry, Mercer and Rock Island (in IL) and Clinton, Muscatine and Scott (in IA)
-Submission period: August 1, 2009 to October 1, 2009; submissions received outside the submission period will be deleted without being opened
-There will be two categories of submissions: Youth (18 & under) and Adult (18 & over)
-Electronic submissions ONLY
-Email poems as either a single .doc or .rtf attachments
-In the subject line of the email, please include first and last name, date and the word "Submission" (ex. "John Smith, August 1, Submission")
-In the body of the email, please include the following information: Name, Address, Phone #, Email Address, Age, County of Residence and a brief note on your submission and how it relates to the prompt; you may also include a biographical note
-Responses to submitted poems will be sent via email; those poets whose work is selected to be published on the website will be notified on a rolling basis by email or phone throughout the submission period
-All selections for THE VISIBLE CITIES will be made by Ryan Collins
* Please e mail your submissions by October 1, 2009 to rcollins@midwestwritingcenter.org
Since reading Tracy Kidder's novel "Hometown" I've been a fan of studies of place. Understanding one's place, the history and background has always intrigued me. Reading about Mr. Collins current work prompted me to try my hand at my submission.
ReplyDeleteThis Land, This Place
What stories you have buried,
Deep beneath your current skin.
Tales of the time
When you were
The bottom of a wetland.
The stories of the time
Before this mighty river
Cut its way across your face.
Tales of the time
When the people of many nations
Called this home.
The stories of the time
When trees, animals
Lived in simple harmony.
Tales of the time
When new peoples of lighter skin
Came and dug deep into your skin.
The stories of the time
When bridges spanned the river
To join the land for commerce and travel.
Tales of the time
When industries bloomed, grew, and
change reigned supreme
or so it seems.