PROVO – Provo Poetry announces their first project just in time for National Poetry Month in April, a POEMBALL machine. Patrons can put in a quarter and receive a capsule with a short poem inside written by a local poet. The first machine already has a home at Enliten Bakery and Café in Provo and will go live this Thursday evening, March 24, 2016. The POEMBALL Machine includes poems from many local poets, often found at Enliten Bakery and Café for their Thursday night creative writing open mic, as well as many well-known Utah poets, including Rob Carney, Star Coulbrooke, Meg Day, Kimberly Johnson, Laura Hamblin, and others.

Provo Poetry was founded last January by local poets Trish Hopkinson and Marianne Hales Harding.  Their mission is to bring poems to a wider audience, support local poets, and promote poetry in general. “Provo’s poetry scene is growing and needs additional promotion and encouragement. We will work with Utah arts organizations, local businesses and poets to help get the word out and encourage a strong poetry community in Utah County. All administration time and editorial responsibilities will be donated and managed by local poet volunteers,” said Hopkinson. Future plans include sharing poems by local poets in creative ways throughout the Provo and greater Utah County communities, such as bookmark poems, origami poems, and chalk art festivals to name a few.

The ProvoPoetry.org web site is the one-stop site for anything and everything poetry in Utah County, including listings for poetry open mics, poetry events, submission calls, poetry groups, and poetry workshops. Hales Harding, who founded the Speak For Yourself open mic in 2014, is excited about the potential for poetry in her community, “We believe poetry is important. Poetry helps us interpret our world and provides a form of expression unlike any other literary form. Poetry allows us to come closer to people and experiences for which we would otherwise have no access. People share poems to comfort friends, confess true love, for artistic and emotional release, and as a tool for activism.”

Provo Poetry is currently looking for volunteers, small community donations, and additional local business sponsorship to add to their list of local businesses already involved, including Enliten Bakery and Café, Christiansen Dental of Orem, and The UPS Store in Springville. To learn more about how you can support local poets and poetry in Utah County go their web site http://provopoetry.org.

For more information, contact the Provo Poetry, provopoetry@gmail.com.

Official web site: http://provopoetry.org