April is National Poetry Month, and to celebrate, the Elk County Council on the Arts decided to host a crowdsourced poem with submissions from around the local area.

Individuals were asked to go to submit one poetry line online by completing the sentence, “I dream a world.” Over 100 submissions were received, which were then compiled into one larger poem.

This is the first year a poem of this type has been created by the organization.

“In the past, we’ve offered an open mic poetry reading. We can’t really do that right now, so this was our way to still engage the community safely,” said Sara Frank, executive director.

Individuals of all ages made submissions and some classrooms even joined in on the fun.

“I know of at least one high school classroom where the teacher encouraged them to make submissions,” she said. “It went over really well and a lot of students participated.”

Frank said many more people participated in the crowdsourced poem than participate in the traditional open mic night, possibly because it’s less intimidating for people to submit one line of anonymous poetry, as opposed to speaking live in front of others.

The final poem will be listed on the council’s website soon at https://www.eccota.com. Additionally, pocket sized printed booklets are available to pick up at the gallery for those who would like to take a copy home.