WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm callin Crossley This is the Cali consulate show. Today we wrap up our coverage with a focus on its connection to the Arc De point about our city's bus routes. Each coin and each bus ride the city tells us something about the human condition. Taking the number 15 to Haymarket to buy peaches with spoiling skin becomes a rumination on our own aging and mortality on the number 10 we see the Hancocks lit offices a persistent reminder of the daily grind. The ride on the 43 which coast past the statehouse and the Civil War Memorial is a meditation on the tension between 21st century living and the sacrifices our ancestors made to put us here. But first we meet a photographer and two architects who see the artistic beauty and potential of the MBT hidden tunnels. Up next tunnel visionaries and books of poetry. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying Charles Taylor the

former president of Liberia is found guilty of war crimes. Teri Schultz reports that Taylor's five year trial resulted today with a conviction for contributing to abuses against citizens in neighboring Sierra Leone civil war human rights activists call it a lesson to other indicted leaders who may feel a sense of impunity. Nine years after indictment by a U.N. court Taylor has been found criminally responsible for supporting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels. The R Us became infamous for its brutality in recruiting children cutting off limbs and maiming civilians. Their chief judge Richard Lessig said Taylor had not been decisively linked to the rebels actions on some charges he was found guilty of aiding and abetting them on 11 counts. Count 1. Acts of terrorism count to Neda. Count three elements to life count for Taylor has a sentencing hearing May 16th and both sides have the right of appeal. For NPR News I'm Teri Shultz. Syrian rebels and troops are blaming each other for a series of gunfire and explosions

that reportedly killed at least 16 people today as elements behind the Syrian violence continue to defy a U.N. backed cease fire. The international community is becoming increasingly impatient with with the Assad government that is. France says the U.N. should consider harsher actions against Syria if that U.N. backed cease fire fails to yield peace. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that French foreign minister on base says his government has discussed invoking Chapter 7 of the UN Charter with other world powers. Chapter 7 says Nations can act together even militarily to confront threats to peace breaches of peace and acts of aggression increase talk about the prospect of military intervention in Syria reflects a mounting international frustration with daily violence between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and armed rebels that has kept a ceasefire from taking hold. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week the U.N. should move toward steps to allow for measures like travel and financial sanctions and an arms embargo. She didn't mention

military action tougher actions against Syria would likely be blocked by Russia and China which have twice used their vetoes as permanent Security Council members to protect Syria from condemnation. Eleanor Beardsley NPR News Paris. The fix rate on the 30 year mortgages has dropped again to three point eight percent and dip to three point one to one the 15 year loans. The update for mortgage giant Freddie Mac comes a day after the Federal Reserve said that even though the housing market has improved somewhat It would keep a key short term interest rate near zero through at least late 2014. Well historically low rates are credited with helping to spur more people to sign housing contracts National Association of Realtors reporting an increase last month. The number of people who've agreed to buy a home. Dow is up 57 points. This is NPR News. Good afternoon from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston I'm Christina Quinn with the local stories we're following. The Massachusetts House has given final approval to a thirty two point four billion dollar state spending plan for the fiscal year starting in July. Lawmakers passed the budget at about

midnight on a vote of 150 to four. The budget includes no new taxes but tightens restrictions on the use of electronic benefits cards by welfare recipients. The spending plan now goes to the Senate. A priest who resigned from the Boston College Board of Trustees following criticism of his supervision of a former priest convicted of child sexual abuse has resigned from the boards at three other Jesuit affiliated institutions. The Boston Globe reports the Reverend Bradley Schaefer has cut his ties with the schools. Two more defendants have pleaded guilty in connection with the fatal stabbing of a former high school basketball star outside of Pittsfield restaurant two years ago. The Berkshire Eagle reports John's Breitling pleaded guilty to assault in the death of John Martin. Casey Ivery pleaded guilty as an accessory to a Providence City Council is expected to vote on a plan that would freeze automatic cost of living adjustments for retired workers. A vote is set for tonight on measures Mayor Angel to Vera says are critical to returning the financially struggling capital to fiscal health. His budget for the coming fiscal year hinges on nearly 20 million dollars in savings from the so-called Providence Pension

Protection Plan. A council subcommittee unanimously passed the measures on Tuesday. In sports the Milwaukee Bucks are in Boston to play the Celtics tonight and the Red Sox take on the White Sox in Chicago with you brought as the starting pitcher for Boston. The weather forecast for the remainder of the afternoon calls for sunny skies and will be breezy with highs in the mid 60s tonight mostly cloudy showers are likely mainly in the evening with lows in the mid 40s. Friday will be mostly sunny and breezy highs in the upper 50s. Right now it's 55 degrees in Boston 65 in Worcester and 60 in Providence. Support for NPR comes from CenturyLink providing broadband entertainment and voice technologies to Americans and Fortune 500 companies CenturyLink. Your link to what's next. I'm Christina Quinn you'll find more news at WGBH news dot org. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. Today we continue our focus on the MBT day with a look at its connection to the local arts and culture saying the train its tunnels and even the bus routes have been both a subject and a source of inspiration for local

artists. We're kicking off the hour with Sean before he's an industrial Explorer and photographer and he took a series of black and white photos of the MBT A's hidden tunnels. Shawna Forde thank you for joining us. Hi Kelly thanks for having me on. Well I've been to your website to look at some of the photos and they're absolutely stunning and gorgeous. How did you get the idea. Well first of all how do you know there were hidden tunnels to even go photograph. Well I moved to Boston in 1903 to go to school and I was over on Hemingway and as a rite of passage you go get your neighborhood parking sticker. So I jumped on the green line to go down to City Hall. And the train was crowded so I stood behind the white line and looked out the front and was just absolutely mesmerized. You know I'd never seen anything like it. And any time I was on the train after that I would be glued to the window with my hands on the sides of my face just looking and looking and I was just. Totally captivated. Well those were but I mean you were in those tunnels so they weren't abandoned. So what led you to the

abandoned ones how did you know those. Well because I was always looking I saw these little things that were interesting and I was wondering oh I wonder what down there I wonder where that goes I wonder what that is. And in the photography class I was taking at NASCAR. I decided oh I'm going to go and take some photos of all those neat places and it just sort of took on a life of its own. So at the time when you were taking the photos you didn't really understand that this was a whole Lamberth underneath and that these were kind of special places that had been abandoned you just were found and beautiful. Right. Yeah exactly. So I'm curious as I looked at the photographs the you know it is a play of light which of course is what photographers do. Did you add a lot of light or did you work with what was there because it had to be pitch black I would imagine a lot of places are pitch black. And I tried to work with what was there. So a lot of long exposures that's why things are a little fuzzy or a little grainy because there's some camera shake some places I would use an open exposure and just strobe the flash to try to pick up an image

because you couldn't see what you were. Focusing on where the camera was pointing so you had to do some things like that. Sometimes I would cheat with a little flashlight maybe but it was just because the nature of it the darkness down there is so I don't know how to describe it it's so dense. So what about tunnels and fascinate you. How did the tunnels become your muse. I think there's an element of excitement to be in that environment and I really like how forms sort of emerge out of the darkness because it is so dark the light just seems to get sucked into the darkness so you only see the edges of things or the curve of things it looks like things are just really coming out of the darkness in this extreme contrast of of light and dark and where there are lights natural light you know electric lights. A lot of the stuff gets blown away around it when you four photograph it and I just like that quality. So it was

a challenging environment to shoot. I mean these are the days of film photography right. I didn't have a digital camera when when I started doing these things and it was just. Exciting all the way around it was technically challenging it was. The environment was challenging and so that level excitement got to be a little bit of a rush. So when you started it you discovered OK there's all these hidden tunnels. How many did you get did you just how did you stumble on the other ones how did what led you to the next one. Did anybody give you any information or were you just sort of exploring as you went. I would do a little research online. There was some stuff out there that talked about old stations that had closed or routes that had closed like the line that went out to Boston Common the one that went to post office square and a few of these other things like old school the square. So there's some documentation out there so as I learned more I'd also research more to find where to go. Nobody was I mean they were abandoned so of course nobody is there but I'm just amazed that you could just wander

around in there I mean there's no live there's no third rail still active there. Were you nervous about these things. No not in the green line because everything's on the ceiling. And this was a different time this was pre-9 11 so it was a little different world back then and I was able to make my way around with a lot of difficulty. So tell us all the tunnels or how many tunnels you shot in and we should say that your photography extends beyond just the tunnels itself to to other places in Boston and I'd like you to talk about that as well. Sure there really aren't that many abandoned tunnels in Boston but that's probably the first time I've ever admitted that. He looks like a lot. Yeah right exactly. Well that's marketing for you know I don't want to crush the mystique. It's certainly not like New York system with the abandoned labyrinth down there. So I'd say I've been into the passage ways around in and around Boylston Street with the

architect are looking at doing their interactive museum building. Certainly all through there. The old school the Square station underneath the government center behind the Blue Line platform right. It was the South Boston station. I don't and I think you mean well anyway in and around there. And Haymarket and Downtown Crossing as well. Oak Park Street Government Center all of those that sort of downtown cluster nothing so much third rail. Make a couple on the orange line but it was from the Green Line side so I stay away from the third rail. When people see the photos they just blown away that these tunnels exist and what you've been able to create. Yes but it's not something that people are clamoring to hang in their living room.

They're quite beautiful you could get in your living room I think. I think so but it doesn't seem to be the case based on sales. Now here's the thing that's interesting since as you pointed out people can't wander around down there because the security issue you know since 9/11 particularly what you have photographed then therefore is really an historic record. You know there's no where else captured. Right. Correct. Well so you're kind of in that story and accidentally Yeah. But that's what I love most about the subject matter that most of those things have been demolished. You know the other non subway stuff on my website they get demolished all the time things get turned into condos or townhouses if they're an old mill or an old factory. So that preservation aspect of it is has turned out to be very important to me because they are a snapshot in time. We just saw the other day on Yahoo that these old New York black and white photos

the headline was like New York photos captivate the web. There's some real interest in that kind of looking back in this window of time to see what you know what life was like What the streets looked like. Do you think the train subway public transit system in Boston. It has risen to the level of you know kind of an iconic element of Boston as opposed to just a way to get around. I mean so such that it appeals to artists like yourself because it's saying something about the community something about the city itself something about the larger community. I think so I think the characteristics of our subway system is different than most others. There are the same twisty turny curvy tunnels the same as the streets are in Boston that you know everybody says were built around cowpath So I think there's a real uniqueness a real signature to the Boston system versus let's say of New York or or anywhere else. I can't speak to the London Underground I've never been there but.

What do you think about the proposed service cuts and fare hikes which is going to change the dynamic of the system somewhat. You know it is. And you know I can't say too much because I don't know the inner workings of the system but I think it's it's too bad that it has to come down to service cuts. I wish there was another way to find other types of funding. Do you still ride the train and take pictures as you can because you can't go underground. No I haven't taken any of those types of photos in quite a while and I actually have a job now where I have to commute by car. You're one of those and I'm one of those. I think I went over 10 years without having to drive by car so I did what I could for as long as I could. All right well in Beatty a subway tunnels as muse Shandor Ford thank you very much for talking to us. Thank you this was great. I'm Kelly Crossley we're talking about the NPT and its connection to arts and culture and I've been speaking with John before.

He's a photographer and explorer. We have a link to his photography on our website at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley. Coming up we continue the MBT and the arts conversation with two architects who listen a 9.7 WGBH Boston Public Radio. For. WGBH programs exist because of you. And the Museum of Fine Arts art in bloom the spring celebration of fine art and fresh flowers starts this Saturday April 20 8th with the family day art activities and storytelling all free for children. Details at

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Thanks. All right now you have to tell us what the true underground theatre space is or tuts as it's gone. Andre. The truck touts its initiative a design initiative to bring back the life of the abandoned subways and infrastructure back to the public use. We have excellent facilities and none of those facilities are historically significant like tram and train subway system. It's a first subway system in America and right now it's abandoned no one really appreciates it. And. And you can do more with it. Yes we can do more. I'm always impressed by architects who can see crazy look at space and and imagine something else and you certainly you do certainly have my first guest was just talking about taking photographs of those underground tunnels and you're talking about at the Tremont Street spot really creating this network of arts and culture based there that would just be both underground and connect up stairs above ground.

And you know we look at this you know also this appropriate to the location first is in a statistical location in downtown Boston. And it's also adjacent to the theater district and the tunnel and in it a theater district you know in nice you know we could turn into a connector and the connector also becomes a car we could have some you know minimal performance space and also could have a museum for training you know for the subway and took or find this important important part of Boston history. Now you guys want to contest it to think creatively about public space because before that it's safe to say I'm sure people were looking at you like well. But you actually want to contest and then people started taking you seriously about using this abandoned space as a gallery as appears it is is an interactive space for its own culture. We were interested in the spaces much before that and we often discuss this together but having the company winning the competition showed Boston in 2010 really brought brought this into

the surface. The whole discussion actually energized not only asked but also a number of people around us who were very enthusiastic about the idea. Then you start having a group of people very much interested in doing something for Boston. What excites you about this appear because you guys have a regular job you do and something else but something about this just just gets you those that space as a kind of beautiful artistic muse. This one with you know a kind of abandon space. He was part of the history but now no one knows about. And you know and we want to bring it to a twenty first century you know see what we can do to transform it and you can see part of the past and how it was and also how it can become as a space to fit into the culture of Boston. Now we've said it's the Tremont Street spot. But how do people exactly give us a little bit more definition of where the what the space encompasses and how would people

get to it. The original subway it was built in 1897 and started from the Park Street to the Pleasant Street client and also for those who like going to arts. Boston Garden right now the part we are talking about is between Boston station and what is now being terminated by Spike. So there's a section of abandoned tunnels with a number of mothballs this kind of specially configured very interesting looking can tunnels and the access from one side could be directly from the Boston station. There's also a number of access points all the way through the trauma straight all the way till roughly the church of all nations that aren't building for close to Mass Pike. So you know when I think about underground I think about Atlanta Underground Montreal's underground Sapir you guys say the closest comparison might be New York's latest public. Configuration which is

the High Line Park and why is that. Well because of a sucessful story of it turning. You know and I saw into some you know enjoyed by all citizens in New York for free and also how it transformed a neighborhood and also transforms economy of the neighborhood. And there's another example which is also close to us was just think porn on the gong. Oh ok but you said she was getting funding to to make it happen. Will it be like what you have envisioned here or are different would be this would be a little bit different you know 20 years and I think some caraway and we don't know and we just recently found you know that project and if so we're not alone which is good news. No no. Sapir you did a TED talk in which you talked about. All of the advantages of having of being able to use the space you just mentioned want it's free it certainly returns an abandoned space to use and

invites the public to share in in all its happened but you also said in some of what I've read that this is a good way for the BTA perhaps to raise some revenue. Maybe just a dollar for some of the planned projects underneath. How do you see that end. Well right now the state is being on the list and the state does not generate any income actually becomes a liability he'll take care of this maintain automatically repair. So in our idea is that BT could lease on a short term or long term to private investors and start developing this like and a project that brings income either not us or sailing but as income from the lease and one think it becomes a supper set an asset for the city and energizes other businesses benefit from this but also the space generates income by itself so this very good approach also would energize what happens on the

stations maybe bring new elevators help with innovation offer that said Boston station but again its an expense that we have to pay so public but perhaps businesses could actually help this to happen. It's something I've been asking all of my guests this week in different ways but certainly for this show looking at the arts and culture aspect of the BTA What is it about our our tunnel system our train system that seems to speak to. The community at large and what art does is build community so Sapir What do you what do you think that you know what is that connection between arts and the MBT do you think think they have been doing that in the past years you can see some installation in 10 installations in Kendall Square the aquarium station which is committed in two and a ceramic artist and you can see all over them beauty tonneau in fast and you know these are permanent installations you

know why one would why would why would they have a place where we have a place can actually becomes you can have you know different exhibits you know people can actually look at a ton as itself and the history of his cell and also different knowhow artists and performance artists can actually perform in the tonneau. Well I love public art because I just love it and I'm thinking about the gloves the bronze gloves going down in the Porter Square subway system so public art must of made big impressions in your lives someplace else before you came together to design this project for Boston for you. What was it. Well this is a tradition in Europe where a lot of public projects there are a lot of 2 percent you have to spend 2 percent in a public project on a public art and public art is not only one educator school it's something that you experience every day and it's a quality of space and ultimately leads to better environment better safer but also it's something that our society represents the quality

of what used to peer you know is believed to be free. And also you know be able to access be free and also not free as to be more available in a more affordable after citizen. But for you specifically was there a piece of public art that had some meaning for you early on in your life. I grew up in Hong Kong you know so open environment you see popping you know in the last of the buildings and squares. So I. Is also interested in a statement that you made on your wonderful website which it shows in a thrilling way what could the possibility are if this underground theatre space becomes real and now you believe it will be a because Andre you said there was skepticism about the other people in the area but now people want to partner with you and that's what you're looking for. Tell me about that. Well originally when you were in competition and you bring some new idea to share there was a question why didn't this happen earlier if it's such a good

idea. But it's always with good ideas is that they sit until they are discovered and what we did with Peter and in the beginning there's always a little resistance because it's a very complicated problem. It's a state property. There are city involved. We want to bring in private investors and bring everybody together. It is possible but I think a part of that actually can be solved in a right and design way but also in the right way for society. So it benefits everybody without adding extra expenses to the public coffers and facts appear you said it's not a design problem it's a business and political problem. Because you have to understand you know you have to bring all this community and you know officers together and when we're trying to do is to to meet with community groups you know we are part of his university and we would talk to me more. And if the general idea is that you know everyone thinks is a good idea and that would give us more motivation and also keep a

city in a more comfort level that you know this could happen you know. And in order you know cities we should always think about a safety issue. But if you bring people into the space that would be a less of an issue. What I often think is that space no one goes. If you have enough people to go to you know that space would not be unsafe. So is this the best time you know somebody some people somebody from the outside could look and say OK they just announced the service cuts and fare hike seems like a bad time to be thinking about something creative and original but maybe this is the best times that we're in this is never going to be a good time. You know and maybe it is you know we can also help you know in the women situation we can help as Sanjay mentioned before we can help them some revenues and use space for the train museum. You can use minimum. The sauce can fix up a translation and be taken at you charge people at dollar dollars affordable to a loss of pounds. Now their kids to go out to the trolley

which is already there in the Sinai. And now it's nice and soft to the public. Well if you can let the kids and go out you know take an educated be educated about the history of Boston I think would be a win win you know for for for everybody. And you wonder well we completely agree with Sapir. I think it is. Yeah. Well I think yes I think it's good. You may think it's not a right time because it's Economist had a right but is that actually the time to make things happen to engage private investors and actually relief and BTA from what happens it with all the expenses and with the new spaces. So. Last question I'm always curious about because you know one cannot get inside one of those of us who are not creative as you are. You get inside the head of create creative minds. When you

went to that space the first time and looked at it what did you see in your architectural mind. Let's start with you. We both appreciate the aesthetics and the beauty of spaces that beauty that captures the history but also the potential as the designers who always see what it could be you know location that on a word yes. So we go beyond you know abandoned dirty and late and we have this imaginative drive to actually see thinks that could be there about you severe used to be function as something to connect neighborhoods because of a subway and I was a band and we want to transform and to connect again to a neighborhood you know to define you know art and culture as a pastor. Well you look at it and you like dirty Yeah I mean so y'all don't see that I'm just trying to see what you do you see jumping out at you have been with store you know clean up

you know that's that's the thing and we can if you can transform into we can open some access point on the Truman street you can actually build a fire you know the neighborhood the same. Well I think it's awfully exciting and quite imaginative and I love people who come up with something and everybody says oh no that will never happen and now here you are. So what do we think it can really happen. Two years three years one year. Probably two three years the way we see this it's an incremental progression so we have a plan of how to first enable Balsall station how to deal with the hover tunnels. And our vision is incremental successes and the things that are very feasible within a short time but also there don't involve too much investment and too much changing of exist think infrastructure. OK I'm looking forward to it. Thank you so much. I'm Kelly crossing we're talking about the BTA this hour with our focus on its relationship to the arts. I've been speaking with

Boston based architect Sapir and Andre sari sickie the co-founders of the Treme underground theatre space. Thank you so much. Thank you. Coming up more conversation about the MBT and the arts connection with poet Liam day who has been planning a series of poems inspired by the city's bus routes. This is WGBH Boston Public Radio. This program is made possible thanks to you. And new Repertory Theatre presenting the off-Broadway hit musical Little Shop of Horrors filled with doo wop an early Motown song

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Eighty nine point seven. WGBH is public radio from Boston for New England and it's all possible. Because of listeners to. Be a part of what's next in public radio by making an online gift right now and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing for a brand new Apple iPod. Use it to watch movies and surf the web and stay current with what's happening on WGBH radio and television. With the explorer out a brand new digital member's guide entry and pulls at WGBH dot org slash iPod song and test Business Innovation is what we in Massachusetts are about startups the WGBH ex-con Amee reported Friday during MORNING EDITION. The partnership between X company dot com and eighty nine point seven WGBH. Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just tuning in we're talking about the in BTA with a focus on its connection to arts and culture. I'm joined

by poet Liam day. He's a poet who is working on a series of poems about the city's buses and bus routes. Happy National Poetry Month Liam day and welcome back. Thank you for having me I appreciate it. OK so you've got to tell us all about your journey to writing poetry about the MBT How did it all start. So it all started randomly. I happened to be my wife and I when we we don't own a car which is I suppose appropriate. And we were whenever we go anywhere we have to rent a car and we usually rent the enterprise up in Lexington because it's the cheapest one in the area. And so I was on the 77 bus from Harvard Square to Arlington Heights to go pick up the rental car and. We passed a record store that actually no longer there I don't think. And my first thought was My God there are still record stores. How is that even economically possible. And then I said hey that

might be a great idea for a poem so I wrote this poem actually on a ticket that I had been using as a bookmark in the book I was reading as I was writing the boss because I didn't. Which is probably a cardinal sin for a poet but I didn't have my notebook with me and so I wrote this like poem on this ticket for actually a Northeastern view basketball game. And so I typed it out and then I started to my wife I show everything to my wife. She's like my editor and she said you know you could do this with a lot of different bus routes. And so that's how the series came about. So when she said that did it strike you as wow that's a great idea. Yes. You know I thought it struck me as a little gimmicky which it is but that's OK. It also struck me though that it would. It's a gimmick that would work that it's a gimmick that people would find interesting that for a lot of people in the city they would connect to it because either they live on a bus route or you know

they grew up on a bus route. And it would bring back memories of you know having grown up in those neighborhoods or you know along those roots. How do you decide which roots you wanted to write about. So I started with a list of roots based on my own personal history you know roots that I either took as a child to school or you know different places to hang out. Then buses that I may have taken either back and forth to college or then you know as I got older you know to and from work. Then as the series progressed I started noticing certain themes that were cropping up over and over in different homes and so I started to set certain I knew there were certain themes that I wanted to tackle explicitly. And so I found the bus routes that would best allow me to tackle those themes.

What what things did you what things did you want to tackle explicitly. So one example is I have a poem on the bus route the number 214 slash to 16 bus route that runs out of Quincy Center to Germantown. And the yacht club. And Quincy and I for whatever reason the word Moraine had been going around in my head over and over again and Morein is you know kind of the landform that is left often in the wake of a glacier as it retreats you know. So for example Cape Cod is a Marine and there's a series of Marines such as Nan Nantasket and the little kind of peninsula that the number 214 number 216 bus runs out to is a little more rain. And so I wanted to kind of explore the fact that landscapes change not just physical landscapes but human landscapes. And I knew that

Quincy High School there had been a new high school built right next to the old one which is a you know a physical kind of example that our landscape that we inhabit changes over time when school gets built another school gets pulled down you know in the city the corner store becomes a corner restaurant and then the restaurant closes and goes back to being a corner store. And so that's what I wanted to explore. Well I'd like you to read one of your points up an optic on if you would. OK. Lee I'm reading pan optic on one of his poems about the MBT You know. So number 10 Panopticon some routes cross the city some circumvented some like blood work from its limbs to the heart and back again from City Point at the gate to the Inner Harbor to Copley Square in the shadow of the Hancock Tower. The slab of blue glass redolent of a tombstone from so many places in my life so many places surrounding the city like an army in siege. Chelsea

Somerville West Roxbury the top floor of the Victorian and Dorchester converted to a condo during the bubble before the bubble that just burst leaving us like a patch of floating garbage underwater on a mortgage we secured with almost nothing down. I've watched its panels catch the sun's last light. Mornings I hop the bus at Andrew right for a short stretch over the highway it to a desiccated van to the city's moldering heart. But biology this isn't the city sucks from us the oxygen we carry and when done expels us in the glare of the setting sun is me or depleted. We stare dead ahead. Sway with the buses every lurch the way I hold out hope of engaging your gaze of looking at and through you and having you look at and through me to find there a different station. The state of play prevails. Power is hard hardwired frequent random surges move heat and light the world. Our view is defined for us. If you see something say something. Yet the original design was meant to be humane. It would matter less that we're watched than that we thought we were. Our

behavior regulated our productivity ensured. My father admonished always act as if someone's watching. Perhaps he was right. Lights come on in the offices one by one the pattern on the blue building have Hastert like a punch cards. It seems we work later and later for less and less razor thin margin razor thin towers standing sentry over the city that encircles it any day I'm busting out one in. That's my guess Liam day reading one of his poems a series that he's written about the BTA. Let's talk about how you pulled together the poetry. You said the very first one was written on the back of a ticket so now we know that you're more deliberate in your process. So do you ride just absorb and then write something down or are you always sort of jotting down your feelings as you're as you're writing. So yes I'm right I'm writing so this past weekend I was on the number 450 bus which runs during the week and runs from Haymarket up to Salem

on the weekends it runs from either of your beautiful wonderland up to Salem. I was up at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival and so I decided to take advantage of it and ride a bus that I had never ridden before. And so as I write the bus I will sit there and write kind of write down things things I see on the route. As you know the bus goes by or snippets of conversation I might hear between passengers on the bus or impressions of a particular passenger on the bus. Other times if it's a poem that's more at the magic I'll know I'll still ride the bus but I'll know when I'm stepping on the bus what exactly I'm looking for I'm looking for a specific landmark that fits the theme that I'm going for. So the poems are not about the tea itself per se but really about the experience or your experience writing if you will experiencing that.

Correct. So it's a lot about a lot of things and it is to a certain extent about the tea itself because I would meant there are a lot of angry bus drivers that crop up in some of them. So yeah. And as anybody who's written a member to a bus knows there are some angry bus drivers. Although in their defense I think I might be angry. You know sometimes driving a bus myself thereabout some of my own personal experiences you know in my history sometimes or about something that's happening on the bus. And I think to a certain extent there about the city itself you know the number 20 bus. Poem that I've forgotten you know is about the change in the neighborhood from when it was mostly a mostly Jewish neighborhood. The number 28 bus runs from Argos station down below to Metapad Square. And so the poem is all about the change in neighbor from when it was mostly Jewish to now mostly African-American.

So something that I expressed to my other guests this hour is that the photographer Sean deforest has created it accidentally and historic records because that which he was taking photographs a lot of it doesn't exist anymore it's closed off to the public so he's got something that nobody else has in similar ways as you've witnessed these changes. A lot of what you've written about is no longer there. Correct. And I suppose that a much more micro level you know so there might be specific stories that I mention in a poem that clearly are not going to be there 10 or 15 years from now as the economy continues to evolve. You know and some of the poems actually reference that you know and the number 77 which is the first I make a reference to the fact that what was a white hen pantry is now. A different convenience store

and will most likely be yet a different convenience store in about three or four cents. Yes I'm sure it's a matter of fact. Yeah yeah yeah. Well so you're kind of a poet historian correct I suppose. What is it about just the experience of riding around on the tea that just I mean I know you want to capture these experiences but but what inspires you about it. Part of it is just a lot of art is created simply because you notice things around you so if you happen to be on the TV a lot you're going to your art is going to almost by osmosis you know naturally take that in. And I go back to some of the poems that I had written you know five 10 years ago even before I started on the series and a lot of them take place on the TV either on a train or a bus because you know if you don't own a car you spend a lot of time on a lot of my experiences were that way.

So I think it's just a matter of you being there. And my guess is you know generally for artists you know artists you know tend to be in cities and they also tend to be a little bit poor so they probably rely more on public transportation and so have to be on public transportation more than the average person might. OK I want to read another one of your poems I really particularly like relief. Sure. So this is the number 43 bus route which runs from Dudley Square up Tremont Street to the south and in stops right in front of State House. So bar relief. The state house is gold dome crowns a low hill the bus scales as it skirts the common City spied through the turning trees on the other side barren paths criss cross the pale of grass. The driver leans on the horn at the cars parked at the stop before the monument to the Fifty fourth Massachusetts Regiment. Cars coming the other direction I'd respond in kind.

Blare at the unseen source of constraint congestion down Beacon Street. It's clear we're in a rush. Winter's first storm looms starts as rain streams like sperm down the buses steam filled windows Septembers weather floats the equinox but October skeins of geese flying migratory routes and late afternoons dark sky swings between what was and will be warmth and gloom. Ancients tracked seasons by moon stars the patterns of the prey they hunted. They built monuments to measuring the lights and all the time to plant. Some farmers still use all monarchs psychics the planets charts the beach set the arbitrary bookends of Memorial and Labor Days only between which was white once fashionably acceptable tied to leave unbroken lines of seaweed on empty beaches. We sat on the decks rail doing the crossword sat shoulder to shoulder skin to skin grown colder and colder glowing like a cigarette the sun slipped behind the trees on the other back of the inlet. How long ago it seems. Still we rush. The light lingers rare among us is the

third eye to perceive the concentric rings in the pond from which we struggle to crawl out on shore. Fourteen years from plaster cast to bronze relief black soldiers and white officer. Daily we pass without a glance. Dodge the tourist trying to appreciate the sacrifice between the SUV. I'm a clueless reptilian seeds flashing more and more. Liam day reading far relief. You're listening to a 9.7 WGBH an on line at WGBH dot org. I'm Kelly Crossley. We're talking about the MBT and its connection to the arts. My guest is poet Liam day. He's working on a series of poems about the MBT a bus routes. So Liam how many poems have you finished. So there are 16 down right now the plan is for a total of 31. So I'm about halfway there. I hoping my publisher does not get antsy because I do have a commitment from a publisher to publish the entire series as a book when I'm done.

Oh it's on private life. Thank you. But you can't just you know whip these things up in a second so that's that's a lot of work looking. Looking forward it is you know especially you know poetry does not pay. It's not a full time gig. And so I have to write on weekends and and evenings and so that slows it down even further. So because the announcement of the service cuts means that you may have you may end up not having access to some of the routes that you plan to ride on. How do you feel about them. Well it's funny that my first thought was oh my god I need to hurry up and get this thing out because if I take too long you know at the rate that MBT is going on there are going to be any busts left and you know this you know collection would definitely be a relic at that point. You know I mean to a certain extent I'm sad about it but there's also the fact that grassroots will naturally have to change. You know it's people's you

know habits change as the landscape changes as the housing patterns change. I think there is probably a natural progression that some bus routes will disappear and other bus routes will have to be implement. Well there are some for sure on the weekends and you know you noted that you had written one that only goes on the weekend so. Correct. Of the ones that you have yet to ride which are the ones that you there are high priority. So right now I'm working on the number 45. I have ridden it and I'm working on writing it right now. And what route is it. That is from buggle station to Franklin Park. And then there's the number 276 bus which actually is not for anybody to ride that is the bus that runs from health care for the homeless out to Long Island to

the homeless shelter. And that's the bus that the homeless who want to stay the night in a shelter that's the bus they ride from the city to the shelter and I want to do something on that. You have to get special permission for I will have to get special permission for that. Have you gotten any response from folks to these bones. I have not. I have not I've gotten a lot of response from people who have said you know oh yeah you know that's my view or but I've not gotten a lot of response from them. Well let's hear another one of your poems. Sure. Tell me the name of this one. This is for the number 92 slash 93 bus which runs from downtown out to Sullivan Square Station. They take slightly different routes one of them goes over the hill. One of them goes down Main Street and skirts along the hill. And then there are the bus and excuse me the name of the poem is fear of falling. The collapsed right side of the face of the man standing next to me at the stop looks like someone punches a

deli. The bus we wait to take to Charlestown is one my wife and I took to meet our financial advisor. The year we'd need of one which is to say the year we could afford it each time the message the same save for tomorrow defer until tomorrow which is to say deprive yourself until tomorrow. If you meet your goals reward yourself on the way home with a light dinner and a glass of wine. Eat sitting at the bar. Split the appetizer. Skip the dessert. Ignore the guy with the half caved in face now begging for fair. He's a bad investment. If he starts talking to himself. Put headphones on. You don't have to listen to music. Just having the buds in means you don't have to pretend you're listening to his disembodied rants. Excuse me. By some miracle. Oh goodness yes. Get your breath. By some miracle we'll call the distributive property of sense. If you can

pretend you can't hear him you can pretend you can't see him. Still much as we might resist the gravitational pull of those around us we walk through the world as worlds depressing time and space like an old mattress. We might lay our heads on separate sides of the bed but by the morning we'll roll to the middle. There you can hear your spouse scream. And if you're lucky she can hear you. I take the bus one way walk back weather unseasonable I sweat under the bulk of my hooded sweatshirt which I donned as a sop to the kid I'm not. I'm supposed to be farther than this farther than a city bus can take me to route from downtown Li to the same place one over the hill one around it here farmers fell to a global empire but the victory was Pyrrhic the colonies won. Today we use both dollars and guns but God forbid some to put the two bit hood try to use want to steal money instead of invest it. It's the car theft capital of America so every movie set here tells us Liam de

MBT a bust poet. What do you say to those of us non poets about how to see the beauty in the ride on the bus. One of the things I would say and it's cropped up in a lot of these is take your headphones off. You know one of the things that Kai has come to define kind of the community is everybody has their headphones on and everybody's in their own kind of world. So they're missing it. I think so. You know buses are a really interesting kind of human laboratory. You know there's a lot whole cross-section of life that you know steps on a bus every day. And I think that itself is interesting. You know I think although I'm guilty of it myself I read on the bus you know instead of reading or instead of playing you know friend you know words with friends or whatever. You know look out the window you know watch the city go by. You ride the bus you know.

Cities are inherently interesting places. You know there's a lot to look at. THANK YOU LIAM day. Happy National Poetry Month. Thank you very much. I appreciate it thank you for having me on. We've been talking about the NPT and its connection to the arts my guest is poet Liam day. To read some of his poetry visit our website WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley. You can follow us on Twitter or become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook. Today's program was engineered by Jane pic and produced by Chelsea Mertz will Rose lip and Abbey Ruzicka. We are a production of WGBH Boston Public Radio. If.