We are ecstatic to announce the winners of Poetry Moves on Transit, summer edition! This round, we asked Edmontonians “What moves you?” We received 75 meaningful, magical poems about movement in its many forms, from the emotional Oilers playoff season to the importance of ants.

The decision was a very tough one for the judges, who were impressed by the brilliant submissions we received. In the end, the following four poems moved us the most and will circulate ETS buses and LRT cars for eight weeks starting at the end of July!

Congratulations to Audrey J. Whitson, Janet Stumph, Kim Mannix, and M.C. Danzinger! Thank you to everyone who submitted for this round of Poetry Moves on Transit! We hope to read you again in the future.

——

Not much
Audrey J. Whitson

Our driver’s a philosophical man
reads a book every morning
both dailies on his breaks.
How much time do we have?
asks one of the regulars
cigarette in hand.
Our man quips depends how you look at it:
flu pandemic coming, global terrorism,
nuclear proliferation, climate change…

When the connections are right, Audrey feels like a flying squirrel riding the bus; to learn about her books, visit audreywhitson.com.

——

Once, eyes shadowed with poetry
Janet Stumph

Once, eyes shadowed with poetry and the
slow bloom of evening, and me melting into
all the softening world, I got on the wrong bus.
Low-town gleamed, dreaming her possible selves
in flows of images outside a moving window; her
great heart with gentling quiet shaping the mighty
life rising through her. And I –
I was in every city on this travelling earth
that keeps its heart warm by dreaming.
Accidental gift. Connection. Home.

Janet loves Edmonton’s vibrant and diverse cultural scene, where there’s space even for the shy.

——

Rollin’ Like a Cloud
Kim Mannix

Air is made to move, swell in a storm,
flip a summer day like a baseball bat, turn
sunshine to shadow in the span of one block’s walk,
and us — ducked into a doorway, hiding from this
impulsive wind, a fit of rain, floral dresses slicked wet
to our thighs, watching the man amble the Ave
in a fedora and a brown suit from someone’s dad’s
closet, and a look in his smiling eyes
that says it all so easy
Weather is a state of mind, baby.

Kim is a poet and dark fiction writer who loves meerkats, the colour green and coffee, but is less enthused about composing bios.

——

Self Translation #2 (Bus Ride)
M.C. Danzinger

On the bus ride home,
profound meanings in transit.
I wrote a poem.

第二目の自己翻訳(バス乗り)
詩を書いた
帰りながらの
深い意味

M. C. Danzinger studies Japanese at the University of Alberta and reads too much for his own good.