Your zip code is more than an address, it's an identity. This community-wide poetry contest is a partnership of Toledo Fair Housing Center, the Arts Commission, Toledo City Paper, and the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.

All are welcome to submit a short poem inspired by your zip code. Poems must be five lines each, with the number of words in each line determined by the corresponding digit in your zip code. See example below.

Entries accepted online February 8 - March 13, please visit http://toledocitypaper.com/lit/ode-to-the-zip-code-2017/.

Top entries will be selected to read their poems live on 419 Day at the Main Library, competing for cash prizes: $300 for First Place, $200 for Second Place, and $100 for Third Place. Finalists will also be published in the Toledo City Paper.

Last year's winning poem by Melanie Dusseau:

4 City of big potholes.
3 Gridlocked, broken, rebuilding.
6 Hardscrabble industrial Beauty is rustbelt Truth.
0
6 Asphalt violets grow strong like glass.

View the flyer here: http://www.toledofhc.org/uploads/directory/Ode_to_the_Zip_Code_full_page_flyer.pdf