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MELBOURNE
BRUNSWICK
BUNDOORA
FISHERMANS BEND
POINT COOK
HAMILTON
HO CHI MINH CITY
HANOI
A poem by any other name would be just as tweet
Time is running out for Melbourne’s writers, tweeters and texters to channel their
creative energies and enter RMIT University’s third annual Mobile Poetry
Competition, as part of the Melbourne Writers Festival.
The best 140-character poems will be displayed during the festival on the scrolling
text tickers at Federation Square, as well as being posted on twitter and added to
an online anthology, Poetry 4 U.
Poetry lovers can receive the top poems for free on their mobiles throughout the
festival (27 August to 5 September) by following RMIT’s poetry-specific twitter
account: @RMIT_Poetry.
Dr Francesca Rendle-Short, Program Director of Creative Writing at RMIT, said a
panel of writers, performance-based artists and RMIT lecturers would choose the
poems for the online anthology, which is sponsored by RMIT Union Arts.
“Condensing your creativity into short, sharp bursts is a fantastic challenge,” Dr
Rendle-Short said.
“But well chosen words can be incredibly powerful and evocative. Some of the
most memorable phrases from literature and history – like ‘to be or not to be, that is
the question’ or ‘I have a dream’ – would easily fit into a 140-character tweet.”
More than 270 poems were submitted in last year’s competition, which inspired
creative efforts such as:
Morning birds My phone sings With text messages (Lehmann Smith)
I wouldn’t trade my sadness, for one whole week in Los Angeles, I’d rather
stumble my way, into conversation with you. (Dan Rooke)
Winter runs its icy hand Along the windowpane Light the bonfire, Burn it
brightly Summer will return again. (Lori Bowen)
The 2010 entries will also form part of an exciting augmented reality iPhone app,
which is currently in development at RMIT.
RMIT Mobile Poetry Competition
Poems: 140 characters or less, including spaces
Follow: www.twitter.com/RMIT_Poetry
Closing date: 5pm, Wednesday, 11 August
Winners announced: Thursday, 19 August
For interviews or comment: Dr Francesca Rendle-Short, Program Director of
RMIT Creative Writing, (03) 9925 9052 or 0417 400 319.
For media enquiries: RMIT University Communications, Gosia Kaszubska,
(03) 9925 3176 or 0417 510 735.
2 August, 2010
NEWS 
