Media Relations Contact:
Morgan Lyons

September 11, 2001

DART and Richland College team up again to present moving verse

New Posters & Great Regional Poems Highlight 3rd Annual Poetry in Motion Series

Great poems and colorful new posters highlight the 2001-2002 season of Poetry in Motion.

On September 11, Richland College, part of the Dallas County Community College District, and DART launched the third annual series of 30 Poetry in Motion posters at a reading of the new poems at the Angelika Film Center at Mockingbird Station.

DART brought Poetry in Motion to North Texas in 1998. The national program is coordinated by the Poetry Society of America (PSA), and is enjoyed by millions of riders in such cities as New York, Baltimore, Boston and Chicago. Poetry in Motion gives riders a way to take a mental break from their day.

Bilingual poems featured in series
The new series of colorful, boldly designed posters on DART buses and trains features classic poems by Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams and Stephen Spender. Included in this series are poems by classic Asian poets in English translation, as well as poems printed in both Spanish and English by poets like Pablo Neruda and Ray Gonzales.

Also represented in the new series is the work of award-winning Dallas area poets - including Judith Garrett Segura, Frederick Turner, Christopher Soden and Clebo Rainey. Rainey coached the Dallas team that won the 2001 National Poetry Slam in Seattle last month.

A distinguished committee of local publishers, editors, educators and booksellers selected the poems, which are placed in advertising spaces on DART buses and light rail vehicles, with five new poems going up every two months over the next year. When the poems are changed out, the posters are recycled for use in classrooms at schools throughout DART's 13 member cities.

DART Chairman Jesse Oliver says the transit agency is proud to participate in the Poetry in Motion program. "It increases literacy and public awareness of poetry, and it promotes cultural and aesthetic diversity by featuring the work of ethnically diverse poets," he says.

Richland College President Dr. Stephen Mittelstet agrees. "Students from many nationalities and cultural backgrounds receive their associate degrees through our extensive liberal arts program. More than 200,000 riders of all ages, ethnic origins and economic levels come together on DART's buses and trains each day, and the poems are there for all to enjoy. What better way for Richland College to promote two of our major goals - the love of literature and the need for community?"

Editor's note: a sample of Poetry in Motion poems is available on the DART website at http://www.DART.org/poetry/poetryinmotion.asp

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