The nationwide movement “Poetry in Motion” has come to the Lansing area. Through the program, select Capital Area Transit Authority buses are displaying placards which feature poetry and original art of Michigan State University students.
Stephanie Glazier, assistant director for the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities Center for Poetry at MSU, was the driving force behind bringing the program to East Lansing.
During the summers, Glazier spends her vacation in Portland, Ore. Glazier calls Portland a city that is committed to the literary arts and it was there that she fell in love with the “Poetry in Motion” program.
Poetry in Motion features excerpts of poems coupled with graphic art printed on placards. These placards are then placed in public transit – everything from buses to train to subways.
“I think the program is a good example of how public art can be effective,” Glazier said, which contributed to her desire to bring “Poetry in Motion” to the greater Lansing area. Glazier, a CATA rider herself, believes the program will bring art into the everyday and at the very least make a simple bus ride more entertaining.
When choosing the poems to be featured in CATA buses Glazier was committed to representing a diversity of voices. She chose poems from poets who themselves were diverse, but also pieces that varied in subject matter, style and aesthetics.
“I wanted to present a swath of what poetry is,” Glazier said. “I don’t want people thinking that poetry is one thing. It is many different things.”
The “Poetry in Motion” program will be in select CATA buses until May 1. Glazier hopes to scale up the program next year.
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