The search is on for Birmingham's twelfth Poet Laureate.

Candidates interested in the unpaid and honorary position are invited to send four examples of their work to Birmingham City Council's library and archive services by the end of this month.

One of the poems should be on this year's National Poetry Day theme of "Dream" and must be accompanied by a statement of intent on why the entrant would be ideal for the job.

Short-listed applicants will be invited to attend an audition at the Central Library on October 1 where they will be asked to read two of their submitted poems to a judging panel.

There are no set duties for the Poet Laureate, although the holder of the title will be asked on occasion to mark civic events and major Birmingham achievements.

A council spokesman said: "We are looking for candidates who are capable of producing good poetry, someone that is willing and able to get involved in key high profile arts and cultural events throughout the year.

"The Laureate must live or work in the Birmingham area and will be commissioned to write poems about Birmingham."

The successful candidate will take over from this year's Poet Laureate, former MG Rover worker Giovanni Esposito.

Mr Esposito, who prefers to be known as Spoz, attended a writing course at The Birmingham Post after being made redundant at Longbridge.

Describing himself as an urban warrior, Spoz promised to create poetry for the masses.

His best work includes Dying For a Dump in a Car Back from Cheltenham, and I Met Jesus in the Sea Queen Fish and Chip Shop.

On becoming Poet Laureate, Spoz said: "I want to get the message out to the kids that poetry is not boring. I want them to understand that those poets they are introduced to in school do not represent poetry in its entirety."

He took over from the 2005/06 Poet Laureate, Richard Grant, known as Dreadlockalien.

Mr Grant was asked to come up with a suitable commemoration of Birmingham social services' award of a star rating by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

He wrote: "Birmingham's skyline is one star brighter tonight. Services at the cutting edge of inner city provision. Altruism, love and a desire to receive the recognition that you truly deserve."

Roshan Doug, Birmingham's Poet Laureate in 2000/01, when asked to write a poem to celebrate the Queen's 75th birthday, described himself as somewhere between an anarchist and a royalist.

His effort, called The Notes of the Rani, paid tribute to the Queen's "doleful dignity standing defiantly like John the Baptist" and her words "descending like Christmas rain".

Roz Goddard, who held the title in 2003/04, paid tribute to Spaghetti Junction's 21st birthday: "Now it's come of age, it should have its own special day, like our mothers and fathers do. When the skaters, cyclists, runners have its skipping rope curves and lasso hoops all to themselves.

"The white transit vans and red mondeos could be garaged for the day and the lorries will only be able to stare coldly from Brum's wide approaches.

"On its special day no one will break down and sob on its hard shoulder after the lacing arteries have confused them again, and it was Stirchley, not Streetly they really wanted."

 A Poem by Roshan Doug

A gentle rain falls through the universe now not snowflakes on this Christmas Eve -
 A trickle that shimmers like diamonds against our nordic galaxy.
 All around, the stars glimmer, these words, like omniscience that sees all -
 Alluding the hands of fate like beings of a different world
 Amidst the darknesss of this space wet-silence seeps into our thoughts
 Like the flickering flame of divas, or the hush of hymns in a church.
 And this could be an insoluble instance, or an enigma for the essence of earth,
 Projecting a collision of sparkling rain with an image of that child's birth.