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• Site Poster for Poets
• Site Flier for Poets
• SCHEDULE April 17, 2009
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• Press Kit
• Printable Call for Poets [.pdf]
  Print and distribute.
• Call for Poets flier (4 up)
  Print and distribute.
• Gallery from 2008

Call for Poets - Deadline April 17, 2009

The Poetry of Everyday Life Marathon
12 hours of continuous poetry from 9am to 9pm, Friday, April 17th, 2009

Do you write poetry? Do you read poetry? Do you love poetry? Do you hate poetry?

Here's your chance to spring poetry on an unsuspecting world. Fifteen minutes is all it takes.

From 9am to 9pm on Friday, April 17, 2009, poets all over Canada will be speaking poetry aloud to random passers by, to assembled audiences or to no one in particular. Take part and have your poetry join the flock of words that will fly across the country.

How do you participate?

Anytime before April 17th, sign up for a time slot. You can choose any time of day and any length of time. You can read alone or with a group of friends. Ideally you'll read in a public place and expose your poetry to the light, but you are welcome to read in your bedroom closet.

How does it work?

On the day of the marathon a poet will start reading 15 minutes of poetry at 9am at their chosen location. As soon as they're finished another poet (they could be anywhere) will read for 15 minutes, when that poet is finished, another will start reading in yet another location. And on it will go throughout the day until 9pm.

You may get an incredible feeling on the day of the Marathon. As you get ready to start your reading you know there is another poet somewhere finishing up and as you finish, you know there’s someone out there to carry on. Poets feel connected from coast to coast.

Where are all the other poets?

A couple of days before the event we will distribute a schedule of all the poets who have signed up. The schedule will appear on the web page and go out to the Cooked and Eaten email list, the Facebook group and be added to several other poetry lists and newsletters.

What will happen to all this poetry?

Poets are encouraged to create documentation of their reading: video, audio, still photography, sketches or a combination of the above. These records will be posted the Cooked and Eaten Poetry Marathon Facebook Group and on the website. Check out last years archive here: cookedandeaten.com/audio/pm_2008_media.html

Don't be shy. This is about bringing poetry in all it's forms to all the corners of daily life. If you've got fifteen minutes of poems, or can make one poem last 15 minutes, you're in. If you aren't a poet, but have a favourite poem or three you'd like to read, you're in. If you do performance poetry or spoken word, all the better. If you know a number of poets, get together to read for an hour or share 15 minutes.

Each reader who signs up is emailed a printable .pdf of a Cooked and Eaten poster to put up and flier to hand out at his or her chosen venue explaining the event to passers by.

Where have people read their poetry in past marathons?

Bookstore, hospital, street corner, hotel, shopping mall, art gallery, cafe/restaurant, retail store, bus stop, on a plane, favourite park, theatre, school/classroom, backyard party, farm, at home, sculpture garden, under and old growth tree, in a canoe on a lake, library, to a cherry tree in bloom, at the beach, at the gym.

You can read anywhere you like.

Where do I send my photos and videos?

Once you have finished your reading, you can send your archived media (photos, audio, video, sketches, etc.) to readings@cookedandeaten.com. Please try to optimize your files, that is, convert them to medium quality jpegs - files that are 250kb or less.

Or you can send files via yousendit.com or transferbigfiles.com. Both of these services are free and easy to use.

I have a big group of poet friends, can I organize something in my own city?

Yes! Many groups are starting to organize their own poetry marathons under the Cooked and Eaten Poetry of Everyday Life Marathon title. You can put together your own twelve hours or you can put together one, two or four hours, whatever you like. Poetry & Co. in Kingston does twelve hours at their local Chapters store, a group of poets read together in Nanaimo BC, various chapters of the CAA put together groups to read from their chapters.

Send me an email at readings@cookedandeaten.com if you have questions, need support or would like more information about setting up a marathon in your own town.

*For Poets in the Peterborough area: If possible we will arrive at your chosen location and photograph or record your performance.

Take this opportunity to be part of a cross country day of guerilla poetry.

Contact:

Esther Vincent
Coordinator, The Cooked and Eaten
readings@cookedandeaten.com
PO Box 352
Peterborough ON K9J 6Z3

For Information and photos of last year's event, go to: www.cookedandeaten.com/archives/events/20080418.html

From the flier poets pass out on the day of the event:

Today, across Canada, poets are standing up and reading their poetry aloud in celebration of Poetry Month. People are reading in Toronto, Ottawa, Cornwall, Salt Spring Island, Calgary, Lund, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Peterborough and many places in between.

Poets are presenting themselves in bookstores and schools, at bus stops, under trees in forests, by beaches, and right here in front of you.

As soon as this poet is finished, another poet will start reading somewhere else - every fifteen minutes, on the fifteen minutes.

While you are here, listening to this poet, and as you go about the rest of your day, take a moment to notice the poetry all around you. The poetry of everyday life. Today, poetry is being brought to life across the country. Tomorrow? It will still be there, perhaps more silent, but still there. Take time to look for it, when you can.

For now, enjoy the Cooked and Eaten Poetry of Everyday Life Marathon.