Alamance County Public Libraries and Burlington Writers Club invite you to participate in our annual Poetry Stroll!
About the Poetry Stroll
In April 2025, we will post posters, each with a poem, in business front windows in downtown Elon, Burlington, Graham, Haw River, Green Level, Saxapahaw, and Mebane. These posters will be displayed for the entire month. At the bottom of the poster is a QR code, where strollers can vote for their favorite poem. We publish lists of participating businesses on our website, and hope to add a map this year as well.
NEW this year – strollers will be able to see all of the poems when they scan the QR code. We want to give you as much exposure as possible!
Last year, we had around 67 businesses participating, and almost 50 poets. We’d like to grow that number this year; we need you to submit your poems by February 15, 2025!
Our criteria are simple. Poems must be:
- around 20 lines long (or up to 40 short lines that would fit in two columns);
- submitted in MS Word or text format (.doc, .docx, .txt);
- appropriate for all audiences, as these will be displayed in public – no curse words and no explicit sex or violence;
- wholly original and written by the submitter, and not published anywhere else.
We welcome poems in different languages. We will publish the poem and a translation, given there is enough space. If not, the poem will be published in its original language on the poster, and both the poem and the translation will be published on our website.
Thanks for your support of Alamance County Public Libraries!
Poems and Poetry Stroll entry forms are due by February 15, 2025!
Directions:
- Click on the file below (English or Spanish) to download the form.
- DON’T FILL IT OUT IN THE BROWSER! When it opens, save it to your device.
- After saving it, open it in Adobe or another PDF viewer.
- This will allow you to sign the document electronically. This should prompt you to “save as” another name (like Jane Smith Poetry Stroll Entry Form).
- Click save again after entering the date, and it may prompt you again to “save as.” You can choose the same name (Jane Smith Poetry Stroll Entry Form).
- Now that you have the form filled out, you can email it, along with your poetry, to alamancewriters@gmail.com; print it and mail them to Mary Beth Adams at May Memorial Library, 342 S. Spring St., Burlington, NC 27215; or print and drop them off at any library branch, attention Mary Beth Adams.
