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Title: A Demimonde's Dilemma
Poet: Sara Ging (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
She still catches men’s eyes
with her violin curves
and secret smiles
but
they don’t go home with her as often
and their gifts are less expensive.
At that stage between
femme fatale and
distinguished dame,
too old to be a lover and too young
to be a mistress –
they don’t know how to treat her,
deciding whether to eat
a melon past ripeness
but before rot.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: An Old Snapshot
Poet: Sarah Han (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 9, Age 14)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
The edges are tattered
Fingerprints & creases
made by dripping mugs leave
noticeable droplets of disregard
She’s idealistic and looks younger
with wisps of baby hair framing
her cheek bones
A carefree manner,
the way she holds herself
and prances in front of the lens
Her laugh is bubbling up and out
threatening to tremble her small frame.
Childish nail polish is chipping away.
She has a faint memory of the other girl
she remembers jokes and promises.
They look like they were,
best friends.
She wonders when the baby hair
was cut
and the friend
was lost
She asks why this one
was never put in her montage
and a shrug is all she gets in return
She reaches up to the nape of her neck,
where a tiny lock of white waxen hair
stands straight up
Instead of smoothing it down
as per diem,
she curls it around her long, wrinkled finger.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Autumn
Poet: Shanika Powell (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 11, Age 16)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
a sigh escapes the lips of Autumn.
whips of kindling and chimney smoke weave with an
aromatic
infusion of soil and leaves in compost heaps.
tendrils of pumpkin spiced tea seep from homes,
caressing the chestnut tresses of October,
intertwining with
smoldering embers.
ash embraces atmosphere, coupled with chamomile
and caramel,
a savory sent,
an earthy incense.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Beauty Does
Poet: Danielle Giangrasso (Huntington Youth Bureau, Project Excel, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Beauty does not belong solely to the eye of the
beholder.
Rather it rests on blushing cheeks
eager to jump
It is nested between the crevices of calluses
meticulously crumpled around each finger
It lies in the unspoken words that linger in the glisten of
parted lips.
It is the hardness that makes cuts fade into merely
marks
and is what makes scars hold on and become a part of
us.
It is mixed with the dirt that hangs between toes of feet
that dare to stray away from shoes,
It courses through veins that enable hands to move,
to be outstretched.
It waits and waits
on fingertips;
to touch another.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Bittersweet Big Sister
Poet: Maya Perry (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Bittersweet, it is
To be looked up to.
A heavy responsibility,
That it is.
To be an older sister
Is an honorable position.
But to know,
In the back of your mind,
Every step you take
Is being analyzed.
Followed.
Replicated.
The thought of that
Eats away at your brain.
Extra careful
To ensure every deed
Is an admirable one
For, if it is not,
She is watching.
She is following.
She is doing.
To be just like you,
Is her objective.
All in all,
It’s kind of pleasant
To know that at least
One
Person in this world of ours
Wants to be just like
You.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Different, Broken, Beautiful, Better
Poet: Holly Blakely (Huntington High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
One blindly walks into the veiled storm.
Blinded, by what? Love, passion, false hope?
The radiance and serenity that once left you breathless
now has you
Thrashing through violent waves,
Wearing out your body until you are drained, empty,
lifeless.
You fight for that humanly desire, for the hope that yes,
you will be loved back
Built up so high on a vision created by your own hope
and naivety,
Brutally thrown on the cold hard ground by a love not
meant to be.
What do you do when your entire world has shattered?
When waking each morning serves no purpose;
When a beaten and battered life is not worth living?
They say the best way out is always through.
Thus: fight back.
Be the hero of your own life.
You work your body to stay afloat in a sea of hurt and
confusion
You rise to the surface even when the weight of the pain
is drowning you,
Engulfing you in its dark womb.
You find yourself within the pulsating, tender hurt
You heal the wounds of your own soul
Crawl until you can stumble, stumble until you can walk
with a head held high
Walk right out of the rain
No, you are not the same person who began this
journey
Bruised and forever scarred, your pain has made you
who you are today:
Different, broken, beautiful, and better.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Hungry Is Thy Beast
Poet: Alec Buchholtz (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Rebels, murder, down economy
Leaves us left with melancholy
Population serves sensation
Mix of religious complications
Reckless take over is his thunder
Into chaos we shall plunder
Begging for a life of peace
Nuclear bombs will never cease
Off our hell he shall feast
Hungry is thy beast
Tycoons rich, howl with laughter
Taxed out everything, thy beast is master
Violent threats bring us scare
Into the void we shall stare
Crusaders and Slavery, part of his greed
And the manifest of land fills his hunger’s needs
Never satisfied with all the pleasure
He’ll take more, excel out of measure
Begging for a life of peace
Nuclear bombs will never cease
Off our hell he shall feast
Hungry is thy beast
Polluting the world of your factory and trash
Our people fed up with your crave of cash
In Gods and messiahs, you believed
The world around you will never conceive
Hatred is your main description
It is up to us for your final conviction
Off our hell he shall feast
Hungry is thy beast
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Pariah
Poet: Jonathan Wertheim (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
I am a small fish in a big sea.
I hear the echoes of other voices.
I see the world “at a different angle,” they say…
I am a small fish in a big sea.
I pretend to not notice my status
Yet I can’t help but think each day, “What did I do
wrong?”
I worry that there isn’t a place for me in this world.
They say that I’m a small fish in a big sea….
I feel the rush of the students’ will to succeed.
They say that there’s no hope for me…
But I do try to be the best that I can possibly be,
Though I am a small fish in a big sea.
I want to be accepted.
I dream to not be an obstacle in the charging stampede.
I hope that their fist of prejudice will stop punching
me…
STOP BRINGING ME DOWN!
I am going to grow…this sea will be too small…too
small…
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Readers
Poet: Jeena Moss (Harbofields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
There are more libraries here than just the one between
the lions.
The streets and sewers, commas and sentences and
periods.
Subways are my personal favorites, you say mass
transport, but I say bookshelf,
Because every book on the shelf has a different story.
The book I’m skimming through right now, its binding
frail,
Is a tale of triumph and camaraderie, of strength.
You can judge him by looking, the worry lines,
And a sallow expression of endless losses sweeping
his eyes like clouds of a gray sky.
I put it back on the shelf, reaching for another eagerly.
Ah, yes. A vibrant young love story, grabbing the “E”
train to Penn,
To drag home, to keep the plot lively, to reach a climax.
Her book is tough, hard-covered and sewn together
well…
That’s what bonds like that can do to a person.
Around here, we all have to be readers.
This city’s full of them, people readers, book readers,
all kinds.
To know what kind of man you are, what kind of men
you meet, you must be a reader.
But to know where to go next, you must be a writer, too.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Summer Lacrosse
Poet: Bridget Greene (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
I rush out of the hotel room
Cleats still untied, hair disheveled, reeking of
Coppertone
Although I am still half asleep
I wolf down a protein bar and a ripe banana
As our truck speeds down an unfamiliar Maryland
highway
After a half dozen wrong turns, and some angry words
with the GPS
We arrive at the fields
Transformed into a third world marketplace
Merchants hawking their sticks and spandex
So tempting, but I must hurry to find my team
Embarrassed at being the last one there, I dive into
warm-ups
Gradually I shake the lethargy off my body
My eyes blink away the sleepy haze
With a stick in my hands I feel invincible
So agile and focused, like a samurai warrior
Finally the whistle blows for the game to begin
My teammates and I walk slowly onto the field
Desperately trying to control our heightened emotions
Adrenaline coursing through our veins
We know that we cannot win alone, it is a team effort
We are ready to face our formidable opponent
Suddenly the long drives, the bad fast food, the
sleepless night
Simply fade away
The hardship of giving up my summer weekends no
longer matters
In my teammates I have found my sisters
Working together, seeking victory
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: The Crack of the Bat
Poet: Chris Gabriel (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 16)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
I get up off the bench
And walk towards the bats
I find the pine Louisville Slugger
With number 16 carved into the knob
I walk up the steps
The smell of the soft wood rises from the bat
A step into the batter’s circle
Rub the pine tar gently on the handle
The crowd begins to go into frenzy at the sight of a star
Adrenaline rushes through my whole body
I step into the box
The pitcher’s eyes pierce through the night
He begins to throw
I shift my weight back, like I am a slingshot
The ball starts bearing down on me
I swing with all my might
CRACK
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: The Procrasti-Nation
Poet: Andrew D'Anneo (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
The Procrasti-Nation is a nation
Where nothing is ever done;
Where people lazily doze
Under the hot, drowsy sun.
Here, life is simple. The people sleep,
With no reason to awake,
To dream of wasting time,
No matter how much time it takes.
Here, papers go unwritten,
While thoughts go unpenned.
Where life goes unlived,
And problems never mend.
Here, they stay and lay and wait
For their duties to wash away.
But the longer they avoid their tasks,
The longer they wish to stay.
It becomes a place of panic,
Where carelessness sows regret.
Where potential wilts and withers
Under the burning sunset.
Here, ambition is destroyed,
And dreams are dreamt in vain.
Here, lives go unfulfilled,
As they close their eyes again.
Beware the Proscrasti-Nation,
It will leave your life undone.
Simplicity is easy,
But leaves you the guilty one
If you choose not to do your job
Under the hot, drowsy sun.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Thinking
Poet: Keith May (Walt Whitman High School, Grade 12, Age 17)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Laziness is not as big a problem as hurriedness.
A lazy person has time to think,
And think about what they’ve thought about.
Time is a problem too.
Hurried people care too much about timing,
And end up not having enough time to think.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Toothpick: The Forgotten Hero
Poet: David Hendler (Harborfields High School, Grade 10, Age 15)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Belittled by all, it is appreciated by few,
Lying inert in a thin plastic vacuum.
Severed from a once mighty titan of birch,
It awaits its short lived and predetermined destiny.
Who shall select this invaluable sliver?
The answer matters little, as it will amount to the same
fate.
Suddenly the heroic splinter is abducted.
Tasting fresh air for the first time in eons,
This infinitesimally tiny segment of plant matter
Is just as soon smothered by the odious oral cavity.
This miniscule utensil serves a simple and unpleasant
purpose,
Yet its job is nonetheless a noble one.
Weaving betwixt the monolithic white slabs,
It cleanses them of grunge and debris that the tongue
cannon dispose of.
Surely an apparatus of such magnitude deserves some
acclaim!
Alas, no sooner is the ever-essential sanitary implement
used than it is discarded.
Clumsily being slammed against incisors and bicuspids
Has rendered the hero a blunt article of nuisance.
What use can be found in a chewed up, disgusting old
toothpick?
The climax of this precious device’s career has
terminated.
Once the most important commodity to the recent
dinner,
This liberator of filth now exists only physically.
It can prove itself worthy no more.
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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Title: Transportational Destructions
Poet: Chantal Lee (Half Hollow Hills High School West, Grade 11, Age 16)
Other Collaborators: AB Graphics (Placard Designer)
Year of Creation: 2010
Medium: Poem digitally printed on styrene placard
Approx. Dimensions (HxWxD): 11 x 24 in.
Description: Teen poem printed on styrene placards and displayed in the interior ad spaces of selected buses in the HART system.
Markings/Inscriptions:
Gasoline consumed air
Gray clouds billowing
out
of pipes
Idling in a mother duck’s line
One rusty red truck steadily
behind
Nothing but an ugly duckling
Lady and the Tramp
in the windows
of swaying faceless Mickey
Mouse
heads
Lapping the glass
A free car wash
Bellows of irritable geese echoing
Chorus of air horns blaring
off a cracking yellow brick road
Leading to everyone’s
own
Emerald city
Tan dancing women
in peek - a - boo skirts
nod
to disregarded lollipop red octagons
and intoxicated indulgences
Undetectable delinquency overlooked
The latest fad
Symphony of sound reverberates
through Venice-narrow streets
Vivid calamity of a
dragon’s open flame
Gasoline consumed air
Gray clouds billowing
Around
the
calamity
Street/Site Location: HART Bus System
Owner/Administrator: Town of Huntington (Public Art Initiative)
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