Poetry Drop Boxes Set Up In Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. (CBS) — One community in Long Beach is turning to poetry as a way to tell a story of the area, and to boost business.

The Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association in Long Beach has partnered with two coffee shops on Atlantic Avenue and affixed poetry drop-boxes outside each in hopes of collecting poetic submissions from the community to ultimately publish as a book.

The boxes went up last week, and today was the first day of collection.

Blair Cohn, Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association executive director, said not only are the boxes asking people to express themselves and get creative, but the intention is to also bring people to the businesses to boost sales.

He said there are no word count guidelines and anonymous submissions will be accepted. "We want raw poetry," said Cohn.

The boxes will be up until about 100 publish-worthy poems are collected.