Poetry in the Boro's second annual poetry and arts calendar, a collaboration with Photography Connect Murfreesboro, is now available for pre-order. The calendar features the photography, poetry, and haiku of over 40 creatives from the middle Tennessee area – most from Murfreesboro, and all with connections to the local creative community.

This year's calendar title, “Begin Again,” is taken from a phrase in January’s poem, “Paper Birch” by MTSU professor and Murfreesboro resident Fred Arroyo. The cover image by Isai Garcia depicts Murfreesboro’s Fourth of July fireworks. Each month of the full-color calendar showcases a featured poem, a featured photo, and one or two haiku or other short form poems. Federal holidays are noted, and there’s ample space in the daily squares for notes and doodles.

Contributors submitted their work for consideration through a process that began in the spring. Seasoned creatives appear alongside emerging artists, said Kory Wells, project coordinator and founder of Poetry in the Boro.

Poetry in the Boro hopes for the calendar to become an annual project that will:

• highlight local poets and various visual artists to a wider audience, promoting the “richness of Rutherford” often touted by the Rutherford Arts Alliance and VisitRutherfordTN.com;
• pays a stipend to contributors – a move toward building the local arts economy;
• becomes self-sustaining and supports other projects

The 2022 calendar is funded in part through a grant awarded to 2020-2021 Murfreesboro Poet Laureate Amie Whittemore by the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Pre-orders are being taken through midnight, November 1, at poetryintheboro.org/murfreesboro-calendar/. 

More about Poetry in the Boro

Founded in 2016, Poetry in the Boro is a monthly open mic and reading series that seeks to provide a welcoming and supportive environment for expression of all community voices in poetry and spoken word. Learn more at poetryintheboro.org.