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Friday, January 22, 2010

Busey! / Artsy Vote for TriMet's Poetry in Motion Poems

Posted by Alison Hallett on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 1:48 PM

(I'M DOING A POETRY POST, SUCK IT STEVE.)

kooser-bus-poem1-560x346.jpg

Literary Arts just announced that they'll be adding thousands of new poems to TriMet buses in April, and there's a survey on their website where you can vote for the poems you'd like to see added. I find Poetry in Motion very conflicting because while I wholeheartedly agree with it in principle, in practice some of the poems drive me fucking nuts—I think because they seem selected for maximum pithiness, so even excerpts from great poems end up feeling trite and Hallmark card-y. So it's all about picking poems that seem least likely to induce bus-rage, even the 4695th time you read them.

Like "Palm Tree," by Jorge Carrera Andrade:

More than a tree, architecture
borne by sun and wind,
the palm is a column
of the sky's arched window.

That's pretty, and it'll be in Spanish, too—I'm voting a straight bilingual ticket. Take the survey here.

 

Comments (7) RSS

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1
As a frequent bus rider, I find stuff like Poetry in Motion to be an annoying example of condescending, elitist feel-goodery.

I'd like to see bus riders get to vote on pieces to be displayed permanently... inside the cars of TriMet officials.
Posted by Commenty Colin on January 22, 2010 at 2:14 PM · Report
2
I'd like to see them put up some of the great misquoted lines of classic poetry. They can start with Charge of the Light Brigade and just kinda go from there.

And CC, I'm a little hurt that you spilled the beans on my new "Concept Cart."
The Feel Goodery will be open in Q2 of the year, and will provide pleasant observations about papayas for a nominal fee.
Posted by atomic on January 22, 2010 at 2:46 PM · Report
3
@ Atomic: Sorry about that. I'll let you have my kickass idea for a new product. You know those fake balls that hang underneath redneck trucks?

(Earrings)
Posted by Commenty Colin on January 22, 2010 at 4:34 PM · Report
4
(Headphones)
Posted by atomic on January 22, 2010 at 4:52 PM · Report
5
Those poems always suck. Interesting to finally know how they are selected. Perhaps a good question for the survey is whether Tri-Met riders WANT the poems in the first place.
Posted by pork chop on January 22, 2010 at 5:02 PM · Report
6
The poems do suck. But I prefer the poetry to the ads, and if you don't like either you can always just bring a book to read.
Posted by Matthew D on January 22, 2010 at 5:20 PM · Report
7
Yeah, a book of good poetry.
Posted by ROM on January 22, 2010 at 9:20 PM · Report

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