Bringing Poetry Passages to Santa Barbara’s Buses

During this April, the National Poetry Month, the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (SBMTD) will have panels of poetry couplets displayed inside its buses. These will be both in English and Spanish, each written by our Santa Barbara poet laureates, about particular routes. Lea Williams and Melinda Palacio have been instrumental in bringing the Poetry Passages concept to life. Lea is a wanderer, traveler and writer who specializes in letter writing and graphic design. She is a connoisseur of history and culture. Melinda Palacio is the 10th Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara with a mission to bring more poetry to public spaces and create more awareness to poetry in our community.

Lea Williams and Melinda Palacio | Photo Credit

Lea and Melinda first met at the Women’s Literary Festival’s Poetry Pairing, where Lea shared the idea of bringing poetry to SB’s city buses. Since then, the duo worked diligently to bring this idea to reality. Surely, a huge project with several moving parts right from getting approval of the SBMTD to choosing poets and poems, to paying its contributors. One of the major pluses was the opportunity to apply for the city grant and receive funding to cover the costs of this project.

Find here the details of the launch party,

Lea Williams | Photo Courtesy

So inspiring to see these women impact our community positively, creatively and most importantly via the medium of poetry that they both love.