West Concord Poetry Phone

Call for New Poetry

"Every morning the world is created." - Mary Oliver

West Concord Junction Cultural District Committee invites Concord residents of all ages and students K-12 to submit poetry to this public art project.  

Share your poem

We're excited to announce our call for poetry submissions for the upcoming year of poems for the Poetry Phone!

Find submission guidelines HERE.

Submit a poem HERE or by clicking the poetry phone graphic on the right.

Deadline Date:  June 16, 2025

Phone Booth - Poetry Phone seeking submissions

Spring Poetry Menu

The West Concord Junction Cultural District Committee invites you to come listen to a new installation of poetry on the West Concord Poetry Phone. We are grateful for the many talented Concord poets, of all ages, who have participated in this project. The spring menu of poems features the following:

Adult Poets

Once in the 60’s, Rebecca Schwenk
Day Off, On the Jetty, Jonathan Aibel
On Being A Dog, Brian Burt
I Follow the Tangle and the Tendril, Louise Berliner
The Sycamore, Jonny Mangini
Ryan and the Lion, Jim Leahy
Every Moment, Elizabeth Leonard

Middle School Poet

Monday, Monday, Monday, Wyatt Richmon
Sonnet of Flowers, Charlotte Palmer 

Poetry Phone Background

Presented by the West Concord Junction Cultural District Committee, the West Concord Poetry Phone is a community art installation featuring spoken poetry in a solar-powered phone booth. Starting in May, 2024, the booth is located off the Bruce Freeman Trail, on Beharrell Street in front of the Brookside Square Apartments. The Phone features a menu of nine audio recordings of poems that are refreshed periodically throughout the year. 

The Poetry Phone is designed to spark joy and celebrate Concord’s long-standing love of words. Writers and aspiring poets who live, work or go to school in Concord may submit their original poetry. Selected poetry will be recorded in the poet’s voice. Community members and visitors, while walking through town or on the Bruce Freeman Trail, are invited to step into the booth and spend a quiet moment listening.  

The WCJCD committee and the Poetry Phone team retain final discretion on selecting and recording poems.  

The project installation is from May 2024 through the end of 2026.  Deadlines for poetry submissions will be announced here and throughout town. 

Boy in a black and blue shirt, smiles while listening to a pay phone

2025: Four Seasons in Poetry

  1. 1 Spring poems with a spring flower and bird border
  2. 2 List of poems with some decorative winter-themed elements
  3. 3 Fall 24 Poems.png
  4. 4 Summer 24 Poems.png

Poetry Phone Ribbon Cutting - May 18, 2024

  1. 1 Young girl in a floral shirt listens to a payphone with older boy looks on
  2. 2 Three adults smile in front of a yellow phone booth
  3. 3 Woman assists a young girl in a purple raincoat to cut a red ribbon on a yellow phone booth
  4. 4 Yellow, white, and blue phone booth
  5. 5 Interior of a yellow phone booth with a vintage pay phone hand set

Thank you for sharing your creativity with the Poetry Phone project.  The submission window is closed at this time.  We will hold your poem for consideration in the next round.

Questions: 

WCPoetryPhone@gmail.com

Funding:  Provided from the Massachusetts Cultural Council 

West Concord Poetry Phone Team: 

  • Jennifer Hurley-Wales, Project Director 
  • Mike Sprague, Artist/Builder 
  • Ed Feather, Technical Director
  • Sue Gladstone, Poetry Ambassador
  • Anne Mauk, Poetry Ambassador