We Carry Us: A Virtual Open Mic
Inspired by the mass quarantines and social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in many shutdowns and cancellations, We Carry Us is a virtual open mic collaboration between Staten Island organizations: NYSAI Press, the St. George Library, the Stapleton Library, SIZL, and Richmond Hood Company.
Every day of the week, until this state of emergency ends, we ask you to submit a poem to the participating organization of the day-of-the-week:
Monday— NYPL: St. George Library Center
Tuesday—NYSAI Press
Wednesday—NYPL: Stapleton Library
Thursday—SIZL
Friday— Richmond Hood Company
The featured poem of the day will be selected by the corresponding organization by 3pm and will appear on their website or social media for that week.
Follow the hashtag #wecarryus
GUIDELINES:
• Please submit poems to
• In the subject section, please put which day of the week you are submitting to, i.e. “Monday”
• Nothing longer than 2 pages
• No racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia
• As of right now, this is for Staten Island writers, but as weeks go by, we will be opening this up to the general public
• We will try to have a different person/poet/editor pick the published poem to make sure everyone has a fair shake