2015 Public Invitation for a Poem in Place

Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park, Kodiak &
Caines Head State Recreation Area, Seward

What might happen when a poem honors an Alaskan river, forest, or tidal cove? The poem could invite all who pass by to stop and see the place, and themselves, in new ways. Poems in Place offers a chance to pause in the landscape, enter the realm of the poem, and hear the place speak.

For our third and final project year, Poems in Place 2015 seeks one poem to place in Fort Abercrombie State Historical Park in Kodiak, and one poem for Caines Head State Recreation Area in Seward.

Poems in Place poems now appear on permanent signs in Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan, Chena River State Recreational Area near Fairbanks, Independence Mine State Historical Park near Palmer, Lake Aleknagik/Wood-Tikchik State Park near Dillingham, and at Beluga Point in Chugach State Park.

Please join us in a unique collaboration among community, a particular Alaskan place and poetry. We are seeking poems that find kinship and conversation with place. We encourage poetry submissions to interpret place broadly, as a natural, cultural or spiritual space.

Alaskan residents are invited to submit up to 3 poems in total. There is no submission fee. Poems should be either

• Original work, a poem written previously or written in response to this invitation
   or
• A nominated poem: the work of an Alaskan poet, either living or no longer living.

Selection Process and Timeline: 2015
February 1 – April 1 — Accepting poetry submissions
April 1 – Deadline for submissions
May — Poems in Place panel selects two winning poems
June 1 — Winning poems announced
June to August 15 — Sign graphics and production completed
August 15 – September — Park sign dedications on site and Poems in Place Creative Writing Workshops held in Kodiak and Seward.

An honorarium of $150 will be paid to the winning poet for each selected Poem in Place.

Please click here for more information, contest rules and entry form.

Poems in Place is a collaboration among Alaska Center for the Book, Alaska State Parks, a steering committee of poets and writers, and residents of Alaska. The project is supported by the Rasmuson Foundation, the Alaska Humanities  Forum, Alaska State Council for the Arts, the Usibelli Foundation, the Alaska Poetry League, Alaska Center for the Book, and numerous generous individuals.

 

 

Moss on Trees
Kodiak
photo by Steve Neel

Caines Head
photo by Lily Lewis