Madison Metro Showcases Student Poets

Poem program enters 3rd year on local buses

Over the past two years, Metro passengers have been treated to student-authored poems which decorate the inside of Madison’s buses.

The program behind these poems, Bus Lines, first started in 2009. Madison Poet Laureate Fabu Carter-Brisco (known professionally as “Fabu”) said she wanted to give students an opportunity to see their work published while also having the benefit of an audience.

“All poets need an audience as part of the creative process,” Fabu said. “If career poets, such as myself, work with, encourage and give opportunities to student poets then they can have a relationship with writing poetry at a much younger age.”

Bus Lines originated in Madison with the help of Arts Program Administrator Karin Wolf.  While attending an Americans for the Arts Conference in San Francisco Wolf learned about a program called Poetry in Motion. Similar to Bus Lines, Poetry in Motion places poetry in the transit systems of cities throughout the country, helping to create a national readership for both emerging and established poets.

In translating the idea from San Francisco to Madison, Wolf wanted to put a different spin on the original content. Wolf geared the program more towards students and with that, she set out to find a different name for the program.

“We got the name ‘Bus Lines’ from Rise Christesen,” Wolf said. “Rise first pitched the title, ‘Busa Rhymes’ after the hip hop artist Busta Rhymes. Her first suggestion, though super-duper clever, was rejected because we didn’t want students to feel their poetry had to rhyme.”

Wolf eventually landed on the name “Bus Lines” as it was similar to Chistesen’s first idea, and reflected the intended purpose of poetry lines.  Upon declaring the official name, Wolf and Fabu started to advocate and advertise their Bus Lines idea. Together, they went around to local high schools and promoted the poetry program to English teachers. They advertised in Madison Times, Capital City Hues, public libraries, and poetry websites.

In the first year of the program, only nine applicants submitted poetry. Last year the number tripled. Fabu expects a record number of applicants for 2011.

Eligible poems must be original work and their publication requires parental consent. Also, submission guidelines limit poem length.

“As a poet, I realize that it is difficult to create short poems, but the placard demands a certain line length,” Fabu said.

Once all the submitted poems have been collected, the selection process begins. If the work meets the basic requirements it goes onto the next step; judging by the selection committee.

The committee consists of the Madison Poet Laureate, a Madison Public Library representative, a Madison Metropolitan School District representative, and the chair of the Madison Arts Commission. The committee selects finalists and from these finalists, the Madison Poet Laureate selects eight winning poems.

The eight winning poets receive a monetary award and get to read their poem at the Wisconsin Book Festival. They also get to see their poems paired with graphic art and showcased on Madison’s buses.

“The program gives poets discipline to write shorter poems and affirmation that their work is good,” Fabu said. “Celebrating them through publishing their work and awarding them tokens of appreciation, Bus Lines will only grow from here.”