Artist Susan Silton, who is creating artwork for the Wilshire/Fairfax station on the Purple Line Extension, introduced special guest poets and shared the “We, Our, Us” artwork during the online poetry reading. (photo courtesy of Metro)

A recent virtual poetry reading featuring Fairfax High School students and local poets was held during the culmination of a series of online workshops helping students at the school connect poetry, public art and the future Wilshire/Fairfax subway station on the Purple Line Extension project.

Organized by commissioned artist Susan Silton – who is designing artwork for the station – the series explored creativity in the built environment through the written word. Poets Olga García Echeverría, Tanya Ko Hong, A.K. Toney and Terry Wolverton worked with students from teachers Steven Gee and Stacy Millsap’s English literature classes. The workshops guided students in creating affirmations through poetry, similar to Silton’s “We, Our, Us” artwork to be displayed in the station.

“We, Our, Us” uses colored stripes with graphic text containing quotes in English, Korean and Spanish – languages spoken frequently in the neighborhood around the station. The first quote, expressed in English and Korean, is by Abraham Lincoln and reads, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” A second quote, in Spanish and English, by queer Chicana poet Gloria Anzaldúa reads, “Caminante, no hay puentes, se hace puentes al andar/Voyager, there are no bridges, one builds them as one walks.”

The Fairfax High students created their own poems and worked on collaborative pieces with the poets. During the final reading, each poet shared the collaborative poems. Four student poets also read original works.

For information, visit thesource.metro.net.