VTA Puts Poems On Buses, Trains For National Poetry Month
SANTA CLARA (KCBS)— Santa Clara County will celebrate National Poetry Month by featuring five resident's contest-winning poems on Valley Transportation Authority buses and trains.
The five winning poems of the "Poetry on the Move" contest were chosen from more than 100 submissions by readers and final judge Jennifer Sweeney, said the Santa Clara County Office of Public Affairs.
The poems have been printed with a visual design meant to convey a sense of movement and are placed where ads usually go.
KCBS' Mike Colgan Reports:
The submissions came from residents from San Jose Sunnyvale, Campbell and Santa Clara, according to the office of public affairs.
Santa Clara County Poet Laureate Sally Ashton came up with the idea that she said gets poetry to 15 cities or an audience of nearly two million people.
The theme, she said, is based around the theme of invention which particularly hits home for the Silicon Valley.
"It's jazzing up public transportation, enhancing the trip across the county and bringing different news to the world," Ashton said.
Danielle Roberts of Santa Clara was one of the five winners. She said exposing poetry to the masses is a great idea and that this is a way of reaching a whole new audience.
"If you publish a book of poetry, you're going to be read by poets and that's a wonderful thing because we're a great community," she said.
The poems will also be displayed at the county's public libraries.
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