Columbia. A city, a community, a home. Columbia has been a home to all of us and now it’s time to tell it’s story. What is your story of Columbia?. How would you tell the city's story? What story would you tell? Where did you go? What did you see? What conversation did you hear? What did you taste? What is your Columbia? Who is your Columbia? Columbia’s poet laureate, Ed madden is holding a poetry competition to put poems on Columbia Comet buses All are welcome to submit!
Madden originally had the idea because in major cities poetry is printed on lots of the major transits. He thought it would be cool to bring that to Columbia and show what a vibrant city Columbia is, with all its culture and art. Madden explains what he is looking for in the poems, “I love quirky and sonically dense poetry. Hoping for a diversity of voices. Poems that help us think about who we are and who we might be.” Madden really believes in the togetherness of Columbia. He’s looking for poems that really capture the voice of the city. Stories about places or overheard conversations. “I really want specificity, and I want poems that give me a very particular portrait of he city. Like what is your take on the city? What I want are honest, accurate, sensory descriptions of who we are and where we are”.
Madden became the Poet Laureate of Columbia this year and was excited to take on the role. He was selected in January 2015 by the City of Columbia. He is to serve for four years and is tor promote and and strengthen the arts of the city. A Laureate is expected to write poetry for different events and represent their particular area. It is a rather prestigious title. He says he doesn’t rely purely on inspiration though. He believes that poetry is work and comes about when you put something into it. He is hoping that the poetry submitted really gets to the heart of what Columbia is.
Poems can be a maximum of 10 lines and must fit the theme “The Story of Columbia”. Longer poems may be considered for a related book that will be published by OneColumbia. All poems must be submitted to poetlaureate@onecolumbiasc.com by July 15th.
by Grace Fennell