April 6 | April 13 | April 20, 2006
CONTACT: 
Gayle Anderson / Media Relations
(213) 922-2702 
Erik Qvale / Metro Art / (213) 922-7695
www.metro.net/poets
e-mail: mediarelations@metro.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

• Poets to Stage Live Poetry Readings on Board Metro Rail for Rush-hour Commuters during National Poetry Month of April

Schedule of events: April 6, 2006 / April 13, 2006 / April 20, 2006 The moving muse: Press Release  Biographies: About the Poets
	Poets on Board> Kate Durbin, Gloria Vando, and Eitan Kadosh stage impromptu poetry reading at Hollywood/Highland Metro Rail Station for National Poetry Month rush-hour readings in 2004.
photo by kyung kim

April 6 *Staged Reading* North Hollywood Metro Red Line Station

Poets: Laurel Ann Bogen, Eitan Kadosh, Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, Florence Weinberger, Antonieta Villamil, and Elena Karina Byrne read to rush-hour commuters on the mezzanine level of the North Hollywood Metro Red Line station beginning at 4 p.m.

Location: North Hollywood Metro Red Line Station, mezzanine level.

April 13 *7^th St./Metro Center platforms of Metro Blue Line

Poets: Ellyn Maybe, Jamie FitzGerald, Catherine Daly, John FitzGerald, Hélène Cardona, Michael C. Ford and Elena Karina Byrne read to rush-hour commuters on the platforms of departing Metro Blue Line trains at the 7th Street/Metro Center/Julian Dixon Station beginning at 4 p.m. If the muse so moves them, poets will board a train to a destination station and stage an impromptu reading aboard the Metro Blue Line, hence, the term Poetry in Motion.

Location: 7th Street/Metro Center/Julian Dixon Station, 696 W. 7^th St., downtown Los Angeles

April 20 * Union Station platform of Metro Gold Line

Poets: Liz Gonzalez, Teka Lark Lo, Elizabeth Iannaci, Bruna Mori, Lynne Thompson, Steve Petersen, Sanora Bartels, and Elena Karina Byrne read to rush-hour commuters on the platform of departing Metro Gold Line trains at Union Station beginning at 4 p.m. If the muse so moves them, poets will board a train to a destination station and stage an impromptu reading aboard the Metro Gold Line, hence, the term Poetry in Motion.

Location: Union Station Metro Gold Line Station platform, Track 2, Union Station, 801 Alameda St., downtown Los Angeles.

Poets on board Metro Rail for Live Rush-hour Readings during National Poetry Month in April

Poet Elena Karina Byrne at Union Station, East Portal.

Acclaimed L.A.-based poets stage live readings at various points along the Metro Rail System at rush hour on three days of the National Poetry Month of April. The readings personify and extend the experience of Poetry in Motion ® L.A., where the work of 24 poets is inscribed on placards and placed aboard Metro Buses throughout the year. The program brings poetry to an estimated one million Metro Bus riders a day. The readings are a collaboration of the Poetry Society of America and the Metro Art program. The program is coordinated by acclaimed poet Elena Karina Byrne. Admission is free for all readings. Valid fare is required to board Metro.

Breaking through the rush-hour monotone, acclaimed poets will be riding the rails, lifting the heart, and inviting Metro Rail riders to cherish the moment in celebration of National Poetry Month in April. The poets are staging live readings of poetry in the Metro Rail system at rush hour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on three Thursdays in April in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The rush-hour readings personify and extend the experience of Poetry in Motion ® L.A., where the work of poets inscribed on placards placed aboard nearly 2,400 Metro buses brings poetry to more than one million bus riders a day.

Poetry in Motion L.A. has staged rush-hour readings during National Poetry Month since its inception in 1999. The alternative space in the context of a transit system is a new platform for the spoken and written word, delivered to delighted audiences by published poets in great performances.

photo by kyung kim
	Poet Antonieta Villamil at reading staged in the courtyard of the Metro Gold Line Mission Station in 2004.

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Sanora Bartels received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from North Dakota State University. From 1995-2001, she studied under Cathy Colman (“’Borrowed Dress”) in her Unleash the Writer Within workshops and was included in her Master Poetry Class in 1996 and 1997. In April 1997 she won a Poetry Reading contest sponsored by Borders. In 2000 she studied under Ron Koertge in Pasadena. She was one of several featured poets at scheduled readings at Skylight Books in Hollywood, Midnight Special Book Store in Santa Monica, The Rose Café in Venice, CA and Projectile Poetry. She has taken part in several open mike readings in the Los Angeles area and believes poetry is meant to be spoken as well as read. Two of her poems, Elegy and Untouchable, appeared in the 20th edition of Wordwrights! Magazine. Sanora is a co-founder of www.LAwritersgroup.com and co-runs a weekly writers’ group with her business partner, Nicole Criona. She is currently working on her Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Southern California and will graduate in May of 2006.

Laurel Ann Bogen is the author of ten books of poetry and short fiction including Washing a Language; Fission; The Last Girl in the Land of the Butterflies; The Burning; Do Iguanas Dance, Under the Moonlight? and Rag Tag We Kiss. From 1996 until 2002 she was literary curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where she coordinated the Writers in Focus poetry series and co-authored a grant sponsored by Poets and Writers, linking the museum’s education department with Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center to create a writers-in-residence program. She has been an instructor of poetry and performance for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program since 1990 and is well known for her lively readings. Selected “Best Female Poet/Performer” by the L.A. Weekly in their Best of L.A. issue and a founding member of the acclaimed poetry performance troupe, Nearly Fatal Women. Bogen has read/performed in venues as diverse as Cornell University, The Savannah College of Art and Design, The Knitting Factory (NYC), The DA Center for the Arts, The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, The Museum of Contemporary Art and LACE. The recipient of the Curtis Zahn Poetry Prize from the Pacificus Foundtion and two awards from the Academy of American Poets, her work has appeared in over 100 literary magazines and anthologies including The Misread City, California Poetry From The Gold Rush to the Present, The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, Stand-Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, The Maverick Poets, Poetry Loves Poetry, Grand Passion, Gargoyle, Rattapallax, Pearl, Solo, Bakunin, Yellow Silk, Mississippi Mud, Jacaranda Review, Los Angeles Times and Chiron Review.

Elena Karina Byrne is a teacher, editor, Poetry Moderator for The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and former 12 year Regional Director of the Poetry Society of America. She organizes readings for the University of Southern California’s Doheny Memorial Library, MOCA’s Night Vision, the J. Paul Getty Center GRI and she is Literary Programs Director for The Ruskin Art Club. She was the 2005 Poetry Co-Editor for The Los Angeles Review. Her many recent publications, among others, include, The Yale Review, Paris Review, American Poetry Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Verse, TriQuarterly, and Best American Poetry 2005. The Flammable Bird is available with Zoo Press; MASQUE is forthcoming with Tupelo Press and she has just completed Voyeur Hour and is working on a collection of essays entitled, Insignificance. She is also working with Red Car studios on a poetry film-clip project.

A citizen of the U.S., France, and Spain, Hélène Cardona is a poet and actor and speaks 5 languages. She attended Hamilton College, New York, and the Sorbonne, Paris, where she wrote her thesis on Henry James for her Masters in American Literature. She worked as a translator and interpreter for the Canadian Embassy in Paris. A graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she played Fuffi in Lasse Hallström¹s Chocolat, Candy in Lawrence Kasdan¹s Mumford, and roles in The Bourne Supremacy, The Terminal, Big Fish, The Interpreter, The Pink Panther, and others. Hélène Cardona’s new book, The Astonished Universe, an uplifting and luminous book of poetry about consciousness, is Red Hen’s first bilingual edition in English and French.

Catherine Daly is author of two books of love poetry, DaDaDa (Salt, 2003) and Locket (Tupelo, 2005) and four! forthcoming books, Secret Kitty (Ahadada), Paper Craft (Moria), To Delite and Instruct (blue lion) and Chanteuse / Cantatrice (factory school). She’s been in Los Angeles for over a decade, and is running for a WAHA Board membership this month.

Jennifer Kwon Dobbs has published poems in 5 AM, Cimarron Review, Crazyhorse, Cream City Review, Poetry NZ, Tulane Review, the anthology, _Echoes Upon Eches_ (Temple UP 2003), among others. Her poetry has appeared on radio and in film, and her song-cycle collaborations with classical music composers have debuted in New York and Los Angeles. She is a semi-finalist for the Crab Orchard First Book Prize and a finalist for the Rivendell Emerging Writers Prize. She currently teaches honors writing courses at the University of Southern California, where she is a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing Program.

Jamie Asae FitzGerald currently serves as California Program Assistant for Poets & Writers, Inc. Her poetry has appeared in the journals Fulcrum, Ariel, and Snow Monkey, as well as the King County Poetry on the Buses Project. She was the recipient of an Academy of American Poets College Prize and is an alumna of San Diego State University’s creative writing program where she co-hosted a monthly reading series and open mic, and taught creative writing, literature, and composition. She lives in Los Angeles.

John FitzGerald is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland. Spring Water, a crime novel in verse, was selected for publication by Turning Point in 2005. His chapbooks include The Mind, Telling Time by the Shadows, The Charter of Effects, and Question Creation. His poems have been published in numerous journals and anthologies. FitzGerald recently completed his latest work, a short novel called Primate. An attorney in Los Angeles, John is currently the Development Director at Red Hen Press.

Michael C. Ford was born on the Illinois side of Lake Michigan. His debut spoken word recording Language Commando earned a Grammy nomination in 1986. His book of selected poems Emergency Exits was honored with a 1998 nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent volume of work is entitled Nursery Rhyme Assassin, and his newest CD is titled Fire Escapes

A SoCal native, Liz González’ poetry, fiction and memoirs have been published widely, and most recently appeared in the journals Plum Ruby Review and Heliotrope, and in the anthologies Women on the Edge and Open Windows. Beneath Bone, a volume of her poems, was published in 2000 (Manifest Press). She teaches writing at the Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus Writing and Reading Center and creative writing in private workshops through the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. For more info, see: www.lizgonzalez.com.

Elizabeth Iannaci is currently enrolled in Vermont College's MFA program in poetry. She is widely published and anthologized, has a chapbook of poetry, and served for five years as co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets, hosting their monthly reading series, and editing three volumes of the VCP's yearly anthology. Iannaci has appeared at countless California venues, and prefers paisley to polka dots.

Eitan Kadosh is a former English teacher, children’s party entertainer and National Poetry Slam champion. The SF Bay Guardian calls him a “...word spinner,” while the NY Times declares his work, “exuberantly defiant.” He has performed at bars, theatres, festivals and universities around the country, filmed for HBO and BET, and appeared on NPR. Hs work can be found in 5AM, Pearl, and RipRap magazines and the anthology, Slam! The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. He is currently Program Director at PEN USA and an MFA poetry candidate at Cal State University Long Beach.

Teka-Lark is a poet in the satirist tradition, freelance writer, and editor of the BrickBat Revue, a literary editorial broadsheet on the poetry and art scenes in Los Angeles. She is also the Southern California Events Coordinator for Tupelo Press.

Ellyn Maybe is the author of The Cowardice of Amnesia (2.13.61), The Ellyn Maybe Coloring Book (Sacred Beverage), Putting My 2 Cents In, Walking Barefoot in the Glassblowers Museum (Manic D Press) and her latest work is Praha and the Poet written during the two years she went to film school abroad. She has read all over the country, including Bumbershoot, the Poetry Project, the New School, Taos Poetry Circus, South by Southwest, Lollapalooza, Albuquerque Poetry Festival and Seattle Poetry Festival. She has also read in Europe at the Bristol Poetry Festival, on the BBC, and in poetry slams and readings in Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Stuttgart. She opened the MTV Spoken Word Tour in Los Angeles. In addition, she has also read at USC, UCLA, CSUN and Cal State Fullerton, among other colleges. Writer's Digest named her one of ten poets to watch in the new millennium. Her work has been included in many anthologies, including The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry, So Luminous the Wildflowers, Poetry Slam, Another City: Writing From Los Angeles, Poetry Nation and American Poetry: The Next Generation. She was on the 1998 and 1999 Venice Beach Slam teams. She was seen reading her work in Michael Radford's (Il Postino) film Dancing at the Blue Iguana. Her website is www.ellynmaybe.com

Bruna Mori is a writer and the author of poetry books Dérive (Meritage Press, fall 2006) and Tergiversation (Ahadada Books, spring 2006). She edits at the Getty Research Institute, and teaches at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_Arc) and Art Center College of Design.

Steve Peterson *Creator of “The Poet Tree”* and Poet Laureate at the artist center in Palm Springs for 10 years. Author: “Healer” Suspense FictionSinger/Songwriter Album, “I Just Wanna Be In Love” (CD) Film & Music Festivals, Concerts, Military Shows, Casinos, Club venues, Special Events, Corporate and Private Actor/Film/Stage "Five Minutes Alone” Indie Film “Bat Boy, The Musical” Stage “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” Stage“Truth Seekers”, Feature, Texas Oil Tycoon. Television “Who’s Your Daddy?” Fox “The Talking Stick”, Warner Cable CBS2 News, NBC News, ABC News, Fox. "The West Wing” FBI Agent, Palestinian Businessman Music Videos Papa Roach, “Getting Away With Murder” Web page: www.xosrox.com.

Lynne Thompson is an active member of the Los Angeles poetry community and is a frequent reader at a variety of venues. Her work has appeared in a broad range of literary journals and anthologies including Runes, the Indiana Review, Poetry International and So Luminous the Wildflowers: An Anthology of California Poets. Her first manuscript, The Open Hydrangea Box, has been named as a finalist for the Philip Levine, Backwaters Press, Crab Orchard Review, Blue Lynx and Three Candles Press poetry prizes.

Antonieta Villamil author of seven books of Spanish poetry, born in Colombia in 1962 and living in Los Angeles since 1980, is an international award winning bilingual poet, Cante Jondo singer (flamenco blues), editor, translator and activist. Included in the documentary film "Voices in Wartime", her work focuses on the forgotten ones and honors them with a voice. Villamil delivers a strong and engaging recitation, utilizing song and second voice to add dynamics and presents her poetry in a multimedia performance all over the world. International poetry prize Gastón Baquero 2001 with her book "Cliff of dream" published in Madrid, Spain and Prose Poems Project Prize 2001, for "Migration fields". Villamil edits and translates the collection “Poetry Solos/Solos de Poesía”, directs the poetry workshop and the press “Caza de Poesía / House of Poetry”. Her Internet page is www.AntonietaVillamil.com.

Florence Weinberger has published three collections of poetry, The Invisible Telling Its Shape (Fithian Press,1997) and Breathing Like a Jew (Chicory Blue Press, 1997), and Carnal Fragrance, (Red Hen Press, 2004). Her poetry has appeared in a number of literary magazines such as Solo, Another Chicago Magazine, Nimrod, Rattle, Antietam Review and the Comstock Review, and poems have appeared in a variety of anthologies, including So Luminous The Wildflowers, Truth and Lies That Press For Life, Invocation LA: The New Los Angeles Poets, Claiming the spirit Within, The Cancer Poetry Project and Family Reunion: Poems about Parenting Adult Children. Among awards are first prizes in the Poetry/LA Bicentennial, Sculpture Gardens Review, Mississippi Valley, and the dA Center for the Arts poetry contests, in addition to being nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

-April is National Poetry Month-