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Fresno State trio brings poetry to city buses

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By Shirley Melikian Armbruster

An effort by Fresno State English professor Connie Hales and two graduate students to expose Fresnans to poetry has brought the Poetry in Motion® project to FAX buses.

Posters featuring the work of poets with national and international reputations were installed beginning last May. Four posters currently are in the buses and two others will be added.

"We are excited that Fresno is one of 14 cities nationwide that is participating in Poetry in Motion®," said Hales, co-coordinator of the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing.

Poetry in Motion® is a program that was developed by the Poetry Society of America and the MTA New York City Transit in 1992 to make bus and subway riding a more pleasurable and enlightening experience.

Inspired by a similar program in the London Underground, the program places poem-placards in the spaces usually reserved for advertisements in subway cars and buses.

Currently featured in the FAX buses are "You Can Have It" by Philip Levine and "Night" by Peter Everwine, both emeriti professors of English at Fresno State; "Hermandad/ Brotherhood," a bilingual poem by Octavio Paz; and "Delta" by Adrienne Rich. Works to be added are "The Starlings" by Gary Soto, a native of Fresno and an alumnus of the university; and "Grace" by Jeffery McDaniel.

Hales and Master of Fine Arts students Stephen Barile and Elliott McDow began their efforts in October 2001. After receiving help from City Councilman Tom Boyajian and the approval of FAX directors, the Fresno State trio solicited sponsorships and professional volunteers to get the posters made.

Local graphic designer Chris DuBurg, who teaches part-time at Fresno State, coordinated the design project, designed two of the posters and arranged for assistance on the others from graphic designers Chris DuBurg, Enrico Limcaco, Rachel Acton, Stephanie Stanislaw and Stephanie Barkema.

Funds for printing the posters were provided by the College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State and Barnes and Noble Bookstore. FAX is donating the space in the buses and the labor to install the posters.

Back to University Journal, 10/01/02 Issue