By: Hailey Miller, Staff Writer
Poetry in Transit is back for its 28th year to transport you into a poetic abyss amidst the hustle and bustle of bus delays and SkyTrain chaos. The aim of Poetry in Transit is to make your commute a little less dreaded and a little more literate. After a celebration at the Word Vancouver Festival on September 28, the works of 10 different poets from across the province can now be found in and around TransLink, and on BC Transit vehicles.
This year’s poets include Michelle Brown, Dina Del Bucchia, Justene Dion-Glowa, Svetlana Ischenko, Donna Kane, Christopher Levenson, Bradley Peters, Michelle Poirier Brown, Andrea Scott, and Tiffany Stone.
From the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories (Vancouver), Michelle Brown has been featured in many literary magazines including The Walrus, Prism, and Malahat Review. She’s been shortlisted for awards including the Malahat’s Open Season award and CBC’s Poetry Prize. You might catch work from her poetry book, Swans, on your commute to campus.
“All we can do is throw what’s yet to be done — / the stolen kiss, the parachute, the unborn — / into the bag of holding with our spoils, / our spouses, the soy wax dried to the bath mat, / and hope to forget which was which” — An excerpt of “Swan Song,” by Michelle Brown
Lək̓ʷəŋən’s (Victoria) Andrea Scott has been published in The Dalhousie Review, Arc Poetry, and The New Quarterly, among others. In 2023 she was longlisted for the Room Poetry Contest and the CBC Poetry Prize. She won the Geist Erasure Poetry Contest in 2022 and was a finalist for the Federation of BC Writers Literary Contest. Her poem, “In the Warm Shallows of What Remains,” will be one to spot on your commute.
“Do you remember a special / green life? Webbed. No troubles. Are you sorry / to have lived as a human? Sunrise will be wasted / on whispered confessions, on romantic bunglings” — An excerpt from “Return to the Lake of Shining Waters,” by Andrea Scott
Justene Dion-Glowa from the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Ininew (Cree), and Dakota territories (Winnipeg), and now living in Tk’emlúps (Kamloops), will have their poetry book, Trailer Park Shakes, featured this year. Dion-Glowa is a queer, Métis artist and poet who is an alum of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
“everything smells of sage at your native auntie’s place / cat circles at your feet while she tells you stories of Sundance / makes a feast of KD and tomato soup so you get those veggies in / shows you how to tie tobacco / says you gotta buy it now tho we all do, but get it in a pouch” — An excerpt from “n8v aunties,” by Justene Dion-Glowa
Bradley Peters’ works have been published in countless literary magazines, and he has been shortlisted for The Fiddlehead’s Ralph Gustafson Award, alongside winning first place in the Short Grain contest from Grain Magazine. His debut poetry book is Sonnets from a Cell, and his poem, “Scaring Myself,” will be featured on transit this year.
“In the courtroom, I am sentenced to lose / Twelve months, less a day, of my precious life, / Which I don’t realize at that moment / Is precious—a reflection I look through / In a greyhound window, one year later” — An excerpt from “Scaring Myself,” by Bradley Peters
Aside from reading a collection of poetry to relax on your commute, the #PoetryInTransit Contest will also take place during this time, allowing commuters the opportunity to win a poetry book from one of the 2024–25 featured poets. All commuters have to do is snap a picture of any of the Poetry in Transit cards they see, head over to a social media platform of their choosing (such as Instagram, Facebook, or X), tag @readlocalbc alongside #PoetryInTransit, tag a friend, and you’re entered to win!
