MISSOULA WRITING COLLABORATIVE PUTS POETRY IN TRANSIT

          Passengers can contemplate questions of the universe, reflect on what's cool, and read odes to Montana and summer as they ride Missoula's Mountain Line this year, thanks to poetry posters displayed on the city buses.

          The project was started in October by the Missoula Writing Collaborative and Laurel Nakanishi (pictured above),  a UM graduate student and poet.   It is part of a national initiative, Poetry in Motion, sponsored by the Poetry Society of America.  The poetry posters are designed by Margie Goodburn, and funding to print and display them is made possible through a grant from Humanities Montana.

          "People often think that poetry only exists in books or greeting cards, but in actuality, it's all around us," according to Nakanishi.   "Poetry can shape and articulate our world, it can slow us down and help us to pay attention, even during a morning commute."

          New poetry posted in March includes the following work by "Ada S." a third grader from Missoula:

Where Does the Universe End?

Does it end where the stars grow brightest?

What does it look like beyond the universe?

Is it all white, or does it have color?

Is it dark and scary where the sun doesn't come up?

Can people live there? Does it have new colors,

or plant or creatures? Can it be destroyed?

Are the stars bright and swirly there,

or are there no stars because there is no sky

for them to live in? Where does the universe end?

 Click to see Ada's poetry poster