Montpelier's PoemCity Wants Your Words

April is the cruelest month, wrote T.S. Eliot in his famous 1922 poem "The Wasteland." (Except he spelled it "cruellest" because, you know, he moved to England.) Is it a coincidence that in contemporary times April is also National Poetry Month stateside?

In Montpelier, Vt., it's the month in which passersby find poems by current Vermont scribes posted in store windows all over downtown. (In the photo, see people engaged with last year's batch.)

For the third year, our capital city brings us PoemCity — formerly known as Poetry Alive — and its organizer, Montpelier Alive, is now soliciting submissions. After all, it's a sad window that doesn't have words in April.

The monthlong poetry fest, underwritten by the Vermont College of Fine Arts, will include a reading by newly minted Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea, a poetry slam with Slam Master Geof Hewitt, and other events.

"PoemCity's philosophy is that everyone is a poet," says Rachel Senechal of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library, a copresenter of the project. Be that as it may, pros and amateurs alike should send in their submissions by February 1. Poets thereby agree that PoemCity can use their work in displays, promo materials and "associated online, print and other media avenues." Word.

Here are the other instructions:

Send one to three poems in Microsoft Word email attachments to [email protected], or hard copy to PoemCity 2012, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, 135 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05402.

Photo courtesy of Montpelier Alive.