Submissions now open
Deadline to submit new poems - May 3, 2026
Mapping our place with poetry and art
For several years the Museum of Northern Arizona and Mountain Line buses have partnered on a project to put poetry matched to images from the Museum’s collection on Flagstaff city buses. The images above were on the buses from May 2024 through August 2025 and also featured in MNA’s Poetry Maps exhibition, on view through October 26, 2025. Submissions are now open for the next set of poems. Poems can be written to go with any image or object in the Museum collections. For inspiration we suggest you visit the Museum in person, come for a tour of the Easton Collection Center, or visit the Museum collections online.
New poems are being accepted now through May 3, 2026, to go onto Mountain Line buses in fall of 2026.
Entry Guidelines:
- Submissions deadline is 11:59 pm on May 3, 2026
- Poems may be written in response to any piece of art or object in the Museum of Northern Arizona’s collections, accessible by visiting the museum or online at https://musnaz.org/collections/
- Entries must not exceed 10 lines
- Writers may submit up to three poems.
- Poems must be suitable for a general audience (no profanity)
- Please include the object ID or collection number of the item that inspired the poem
- Entries should be emailed to comment@musnaz.org
- Entries can also be dropped off at the Museum front desk between 10 am – 5 pm
- Entries may be mailed to Poetry Maps at MNA, 3101 N. Fort Valley Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001. If mailed, entries must be postmarked by May 3, 2026
- We reserve the right to match a poem with a different piece of art if needed
- Winners will be invited to participate in a reading of the poems at MNA.
Teachers
Consider using this as a class project. To arrange a class visit to the museum contact Education Manager Sacha Siskonen at ssiskonen@musnaz.org
Poetry prompts
We hope this project inspires you to write some poetry or musings of your own. Try one of the following writing prompts. If you are looking for feedback as you work on crafting your poem, consider joining the MNA Writer’s Group, which meets on Zoom on alternating Wednesdays. Contact khutchison@musnaz.org
Directions: Give someone directions to or through the place. How will they recognize the destination? What should they watch out for? What are the most prominent features?
En Plein: Painters often go to a place to paint en plein air. Writers also find inspiration by visiting a location. Go to the place pictured, or one like it, and experience it. Take a journal to make notes. What do you notice? What do you think? What do you know? How is being in the place different than looking at the painting?
Memory: Write down any memories you have of the place or that it reminds you of. Use specific details.
Natural forces: How was this place formed? What were the forces that shaped it? What does it tell you about the past? When you think about all that this place has been through, how do you feel?
Where I’m From: Listen to George Ella Lyon read Where I’m From. Using the starting phrase “I am from…” create a series of sentences that tap into the concrete details of your life and experience.
Imagination: Things you imagine or wish related to a place. What would you do if you could go there? Use these lists to inform your poem.
Senses: List sensory details and feelings about the chosen place. If you were there, what would you see, smell, hear, feel, and taste?
20 Questions: Looking at the image, quickly list questions about it. When you get beyond the obvious questions, you may find a poem, if not in the questions themselves, then by trying to answer them.
Home Planet: Imagine you are from another planet, stuck on earth and longing for home. Or that you are on another planet, remembering Earth.
Tourist: Imagine someone visiting from out-of-town who is complaining about this place. Respond to them with three things you think are wonderous about the place and some advice for the visitor.
Signs of the Times: How has a place you are familiar with changed over the past 10 years?
The Artist: Have an imaginary conversation with the artist. What do you imagine about the artist from the painting? What were they thinking or feeling? What would you say to them or ask? What would they say to you?