Honesty Box

For National Poetry Day 2024, Kulvert Books is facilitating the creation of an ‘honesty box poem’. The poem, which will be produced as a broadsheet, will be created by any and all members of the public that want to participate. The concept is simple: everyone submits a single line of poetry, which will be carefully curated to create a single long-form poem. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate, regardless of age, experience, or writing style – every voice counts.

The poem, upon completion, will be produced by Kulvert Books as a broadsheet which will be available for every contributor to the poem; every contributor will also have their name published on the front cover. Information about the poem will be counted, compiled, and sorted, to demonstrate the scale of the project – and for the fun of it!

Participants will be encouraged to write in line with the theme of the year – counting. However, all submissions will be included, regardless of subject (within reason). Our link to the theme is a play on the word ‘counting’, which both means ‘to matter’ (to be included) and ‘counting up’ (by counting the metrics of the poem).

The honest box will be open for the month of October, and will be funded by donations and the sale of Kulvert books, which shall be available for purchase beside the honesty box. The honesty box will be hosted at Estate Tea Co., to encourage a wide range of the public (many of whom will have never created poetry before) to get involved in the process. Alongside the honesty box, we will also have a scribble wall, where everyone will be encouraged to scribble, explore, and indulge in the literary – from a favourite quote to a shopping list. This, we hope, will engage children who demonstrate interest in literature.