Hattie’s top five places to read poetry:
A too-dark bar with real candles you can pull toward your book for added (dangerous!) illumination
A too-bright beach with a lot of wind that keeps knocking umbrellas over
Central Park, specifically one of the bits of lawn that gives a view of Cleopatra’s Needle but does NOT have a bench
In a long line at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or Burlington Coat Factory
The subway
Thanks to the MTA it is hard not to read poetry on the subway, at least on the trains I take. There’s a program called “Poetry in Motion” that New Yorkers reading this have certainly noticed. On the subway cars, in the little plastic slots where you sometimes see ads for startup mattresses or 5K benefits or psychics, you’ll sometimes see poetry. Normally, it’s poetry paired with cool art, maybe a photo of a mosaic or a linocut.
This one has been following me.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Hattie Jean Hayes to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.