In today's New York Times, Jim Dwyer touches on the history of Poetry in Motion, an initiative that exposed commuters to classic and contemporary poems for more than 15 years by publishing them in subway cars, in place of advertisements. The project was introduced by the MTA and thrived with help from Barnes and Noble and local cultural institutions.


Last month, it came to an end; now, commuters can look forward to prose excerpts instead.

From Dwyer's article:

Ms. Martinez, of the authority, says the shift can be traced to the resistance she felt over using a selection from “Hamlet,” in which the prince, resigned to the possibility that he could be killed in a duel, says: “There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.” A colleague argued that it was prose.

“I thought, ‘Why not prose?’” said Ms. Martinez, a former college English professor.

Whether it's poetry or prose that's scattered throughout the transit system, the importance of this project seems undeniable - especially in such a big and busy place. A small dose of literature can go a long way, maybe more so when it's unexpected: You're being jostled in a subway car by a rush of bodies and briefcases, it's early, you're grumpy, then suddenly, you've got a quiet human reminder - some inspiration for your day, or just a bunch of words that work well enough together to get lodged into your brain.

Less dramatically, Dwyer's article testifies that Poetry in Motion has helped many people get excited about creative writing, and make a place for it in their lives:

“People will remember a first line,” said Brett Lauer, the managing director of the Poetry Society. “They remember where they were going when they first read a poem.” One woman who worked as a waitress and was planning her wedding asked him for the text of “A Bouquet,” a poem by the Chinese poet Bei Dao. An excerpt begins:

Between me and the world

You are a calendar, a compass

Hopefully prose will go over just as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing the placards first hand.