Next Stop Poetry

We tend to see time spent on the bus as dead time, empty time, the blank space between departure and arrival. We zone out, listen to music, read a book, pretend to be anywhere else.

Between June 2012 and February 2013 in Victoria, B.C., I set out to change that habit, both in myself and my fellow commuters. During that time, the half hour I spent on the bus every morning was not simply a commute, but a chance to commune. Every day that I rode the bus, I either wrote a poem, or distributed a poem that had been written on the same bus. I posted many of my bus poems on this blog, as well as distributing them on Victoria public transit as small poem cards.

 

The purpose of the Next Stop Poetry project was to invite people to experience their commute differently: to observe each other and the passing scenery, to listen to the thrum of the engine, to be present. I also wanted to break down the stereotype of poetry as an erudite, academic exercise by showing that poetry can be a rewarding part of everyday life.

In the moment, the Next Stop Poetry project was a success in helping me experience my commute differently and make connections with other bus-riders. Now, years later, the project has achieved a completely different kind of success.

My chapbook based on the project, Public Transit, is the Canadian winner of Leaf Press‘ 2015 Overleaf Chapbook Competition. The new incarnation of the Next Stop Poetry project will be published by Leaf Press in 2016.