Saturday, May 4, 2013

Poetry on the Subway - Poetry in Motion

The search for something new under the sun can be found beneath our beautiful city in our subway cars & stations.  I know & commiserate our commuter fares are increasing.  But who knew, in lieu of only advertisements & graffiti there is eloquent poetry to be discovered.  MTA's Poetry in Motion Program sponsors this art.  Fragments of poetry have been made displayed for strap holders since '82, when a portion of Whitman's "Crossing Ferry" was mounted.  This was news to me.  It provided me a moment of quiet reflection in a frentic, constantly moving city.  There have been more than 200 poems/excerpts on display for more than 30 years.  Below are the 2 poems I spotted, "Grand Central" by Billy Collins:
The City orbits around eight million
centers of the universe
and turns around the golden clock
at the still point of this place.
Lift up your eyes from the moving hive
and you will see time circling
under a vault of stars and know
just when and where you are.
Mary Ruefle's beautiful poem "Voyager:"
I have become an orchid
washed in on the salt white beach.
Memory,
what can I make of it now
that might please you -
this life, already wasted
and still strewn with miracles.
Perhaps you might come upon a poem while being jostled in a subway car that will give you respite in your day.  A fare decrease would be miraculous.

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