While the Globe & Mail's James Adams figures Poetry might be dead, Cheri Hanson of the Vancouver Sun offers a different perspective:

For 10 years, Poetry in Transit has been adding a dash of culture to the daily commute. The program tucks 16 poems a year in between ads for gum, soda or running shoes on buses and SkyTrains around the Lower Mainland. The verses, penned by B.C. poets published in Canada, are chosen by a three-person panel.

Vancouver poet Sandy Shreve initiated the project in 1995 with TransLink (then known as BC Transit) and the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. It launched the following year with work from poets including W.H. New, Dorothy Livesay and Patrick Lane.

"I knew people would love it, and they do," says Shreve. "Poetry should be in public."

TransLink donates ad space for the poetry cards, with support from the book publishers' association and the Canada Council for the Arts. To date, 161 poems by 151 poets from 32 publishers have been read, discussed and even memorized in traffic.

"I have a sense that a lot of people think of poetry as inaccessible and for the literati, but that's not true," Shreve explains. Some poetry can be inaccessible, she says, but the form truly belongs to everyone.

Similar programs were thriving on the London Underground and in New York City when she presented her proposal, but Poetry in Transit was the first of its kind in Canada. It moved Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Whitehorse and other cities to follow suit.

The project has succeeded because it offers a moment of creativity in what can be a routine and monotonous experience, says Alison Cairns, executive assistant at the publishers' association. "People spend a lot of time commuting, and you want to look up and see something a little more inspiring than an advertisement."

Cairns says all the poems get noticed, but bill bissett's unconventional stanzas always draw a strong response. "Say the Names," by the late, great Al Purdy, also inspired legions of transit riders to call and e-mail in their comments. "That one, people just loved," Cairns says.

Read the rest of the article here.

Source: The Vancouver Sun

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