|
Title: All Threads Trail Home
Poet: Liz Kaempf (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Blowing thick clouds of dust off family heirlooms
And sifting through drawers in dressers,
Under two hand-made blankets, in a corner, is the yarn
kit.
The unsanded, pinewood box
That you took out when I was six
After I told you I wanted to learn how to knit.
I sat on your lap as you showed my small, clumsy hands
how to loop the purple yarn around the two, thick, metallic needles.
I was fascinated.
After half an hour I had managed a few stitches.
All on my own.
My goofy, pot-holed grin looking up at you
matched the smile you flashed back at me,
Your eyes beaming with pride
through your half-dollar sized glass lenses.
Grandma, I must confess,
I can’t remember how to knit these days.
But I use the same purple yarn in everything I do.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Ecuador
Poet: Jamie Ordonez (Harborfields High School, Grade 9, Age 14)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Dirt paths, broken roads
Pickup trucks that carry a load
Cemeteries up the hill
Night, it’s all extremely still
Fighting bulls and mad horse races
Cramming into little places
This is Sibambe, Ecuador
Hot, sticky air and a Flintstone park
Ports that are beautiful in the dark
Boats to beaches and waterfalls
Excitement when Elsita calls
Bonsai plants, running miles
With the people that make me smile
This is Machala, Ecuador
Endless beach visits every night
Swimming until we’re out of sight
Mounting on banana boats
And never needing to wear a coat
Carrides that never seem to end
And being so sore that our legs can’t bend
This is Manta, Ecuador
This is Ecuador
The place that I visit, and so much more
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: 4:36 P.M.
Poet: Megan McLafferty (Harborfields High School, Grade 9, Age 14)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Small as an ant
silently staying under the long floorboards
so far away
a lost earring
something that might never be found
It does not matter
soon you will be forgotten
little, itty, bitty
becoming dust
this is a goodbye
not an “I’ll see you later”
a goodbye
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Gliding
Poet: Courtney Purslow (Harborfields High School, Grade 9, Age 14)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Smoothly, swiftly,
softly, quickly.
All together catch and finish,
power never to diminish.
Gliding together, our bodies as one,
along the glass water we run.
Bodies move sleek and long,
almost nothing can go wrong.
A coxswain yells, their voice sharp and bold,
I grasp the oar with an iron hold.
No one talks, no one utters a word,
the gentle splash of the water is all that’s heard.
We move together with stealth and speed,
we follow the stroke seat, it is he who leads.
Dodging buoys and boats,
we glide, we float.
Our coach yells from close behind,
we try to row in the straightest line.
Again and Again we row at full speed,
every comment we try to heed.
We work together seat to seat,
every body begins at another person’s feet.
We need each other to make it flow,
Gliding smoothly, the boat will go.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: I Am Rapunzel
Poet: Danielle Burby (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
I am Rapunzel.
Suffocating in my ivory tower
alone
in this claustrophobic space.
Where is my savior?
Who will climb my short brown hair and pull me out of
the sound-proofed cement interior of my mind?
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: I Never Jumped Off the Robert Moses Bridge
Poet: Justin Saslaw (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
I never jumped off the Robert Moses Bridge after
throwing a cinder block to break the water tension.
I was never able to fly off Top of the Rock at
Rockefeller Plaza and glide over the park like a falcon.
I never walked off a ferry across the Hudson
or touched a third rail or the ocean floor.
I never understood poetry.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: knees
Poet: Hilary Beck (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
degraded upon certainty
subdued by ricochet mood swings.
yesterday my love you played the sixties
in your pink twiggy pantyhose and your paisley
micro skirts, fully transformed with your patent black
ballet
flats.
today, the tundra. the soul just barely
below freezing. you are not strong enough to play dress
up again.
take care of yourself, those limbs once so jaunty and
free now wrapped in flannels
and a hot water bottle your chapeau. i’m sick too,
to look upon you like the poor overgrown child you are
nowadays. winter has defiantly fallen
on your delicate white knees.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Love Lasts
Poet: Laura Bergsten (Cold Spring Harbor High School, Grade 9, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
An old couple sits alone
In a whitewashed room
The woman’s worn eyes strain
Her feeble hands shake
A stronger hand falls upon her own
The shaking stops
She releases her breath
He’s there, as always
And that’s all that ever mattered.
An old couple sits alone
In a whitewashed room
The man sways slowly
His meandering glance falls on her
He places his hand on hers
She relaxes and so does he
He releases his breath
She’s all he ever needed
They’re together
And that’s all that ever mattered.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Scream at a Passing Cloud
Poet: Elizabeth Gress (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
You’re another plank of wood against others on the
fence
perfectly matching their cream white of pancake batter
separate yourself, become electric blue of hydrated
copper (II)
sulfate
run up and down the stairs at a church, quacking until
the priest kicks
you out
go to McDonald’s and moan like a cat in heat
jump off a tree and let yourself believe for a moment
you’ll never hit
ground
just be the black converse sneaker in a pile of
chestnut Ugg boots.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Sleep
Poet: Mia Parziale (Huntington High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
The obnoxious sound of the alarm clock,
Your body asks for more sleep but is denied.
The quiet drive to school
Your eyes ask for more sleep but are denied.
The droning voice of the teachers
Your ears ask for more sleep but are denied.
The walks from class to class
Your legs ask for more sleep but are denied.
The furious writing on the homework paper
Your hands ask for more sleep but are denied.
Finally it’s the time your body’s been aching for.
You lay in bed waiting to be swept by dreams
But instead you lay there not able to sleep.
And then, when you finally get the satisfaction,
It begins again.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Smiling in the Face of Death
Poet: Emily Ruderman (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 10, Age 16)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Can you see me?
The lady in the second row,
The only one smiling?
That smile got me through.
Got me through the atrocities I saw,
The burnt flesh I smelled.
The ghetto,
The camps,
The guilt.
See, I was the only one left.
The only one to survive.
Optimism was the key that opened the door to my life.
My smile kept me strong.
I stayed strong.
They all thought I was foolish,
Ignorant even
Like a toddler.
I knew.
Believe me,
I knew.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Standing at Granddad's Funeral
Poet: Andrew McIndoo (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 11, Age 16)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Here, all colors cast black shadows.
Here, tears slide down a smooth wooden surface
and a breeze goes unnoticed. Red eyes like embers.
Twenty-one gun shots ring and shells bounce off
concrete.
A folded flag handed to a feeble woman.
Faces turn the white of realization –
like the stripes of the triangle in her hands.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: Terminal
Poet: Jiordan Castle (Huntington High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
There is this silent sweep:
your feet touch the linoleum floor
of the terminal.
Luggage ignored, arms still at your sides.
I note the true length of three months,
the stagnant composition of time.
You wave goodbye, but all I hear is
the mechanical rush of wings.
I try to memorize the curve of your back,
the length of your smile.
You have everything you need to get by –
but me.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: The Regret Pages
Poet: Amanda Garrido (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
There’s an ad in a yellowing newspaper
for a special gold ring.
Find out who you can trust! it reads
in bright bold lettering.
I wish I had sent that order in
so I could have given it to you.
You, who had trusted me to be there,
and was left to walk home in the snow.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |
|
Title: True Life: I Fell in Love with an Eight-Year-Old Bandit
Poet: Michelle Falcone (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2008
Medium: Poem digitally printed on laminated placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on laminated placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
In second grade I fell in love. To this day, I can remember the first moment I set my eyes on him. He was new to the district, but he strolled into the gym that day in early September like he owned the place; like everything he touched turned to ice-cream sundae, with hot fudge dripping like the desire he created in his path. Sure, we were eight, but Kyle was like an outlaw, stealing my second-grade heart and leaving only the footprint of his dirty white Sketchers behind.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
|
 |