Department of Transportation

Metro Transit and Madison’s Poet Laureate invite you to send short poems, haiku, prose poems, or excerpts from longer poems, 3–15 lines total, to the 2020 Bus Lines open call for poetry.

Submissions can be made in any language. Poems in a different language must include an English version in order for full consideration. Selected poems will be transformed into moving art by Edgewood College Graphic Design students. The final designs will be approved by the Edgewood College Graphic Design Professor with consultation with the Poet Laureate and Metro Transit.

Contest Theme
This year's theme is “How riding the bus is good for us and the planet.”

Area writers are encouraged to share with fellow citizens why riding the bus is beneficial. What did you see out the window or inside the bus that made you smile? Did you hear a good story? Witness an act of kindness? Ride by nature? Your voice, your perspective, your bus system. Ours. Tell us how riding the bus helps the planet!

Submit Online
Submit poetry online at mymetrobus.com/poetry.

Submissions can include up to (3) poems maximum. Entries must be no longer than 15 lines to be considered.

Poems of certain lengths work out better for certain Metro marketing material over others. When submitting your poem, you will be asked to select for which marketing item you’d like your poem to be considered.

Entries are due on Friday, March 6.

For more information, call 608-266-4466 email mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com.