It’s National Poetry Month and 4Culture is celebrating by launching a new phase of Poetry in Public – the poems! Look for poems on King County Metro buses and Sound Transit light rail starting mid-April and read and listen to selected poems online today.

Poems submitted by King County residents were selected by a panel consisting of local poets and literary arts administrators, including Poet Planner Laura Da’, who is leading the creative vision and conceptualized the theme for this iteration of the program. The theme Places of Landing honors the movements, places, and feelings that tell the stories of our days.

Participants were inspired to write short poems by prompts on the 4Culture website and at workshops led by Community Liaisons. These workshops brought community members together to engage in writing activities that interpreted and expanded on the Places of Landing theme and highlighted poetry traditions connected to their Community of Focus. Communities of Focus for the 2023-2025 Poetry in Public program include: African American, Chinese, Filipino, Indigenous, Spanish-Speaking, and Youth. Find inspiration on the website to guide your own poetry on the theme and remember that everyone can be a poet!

Previously known as Poetry on Buses, this long-running program features poems written by King County residents of all ages online, on transit, and in public spaces across King County. 4Culture’s poetry program began more than 30 years ago and has since published the written work of over 1,000 people from across the region. Some of those voices were professional writers, but the majority were ordinary people of all ages and backgrounds. Learn more about the history of this beloved program and how it has evolved since launching in 1992 in our recent blog post, How Poetry Hit the Road: A history of Poetry on Buses, 4Culture’s most popular and populist public art program.

We look forward to celebrating Poetry in Public and the local poetry community in a series of events this summer. Stay tuned for event information by subscribing to our enews and view weekly poetry posts by following us on social media.

In the meantime, help us to connect poems out in the wild with their poets by sharing photos on Instagram and tagging @kc4culture!