There is poetry on the bus in Vancouver, and I don’t mean the drunk guy at the front rambling incoherently between pulls from a beer can inside a brown paper bag. Since 1996, the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia have produced and displayed poetry from both established and rising B.C. poets published in Canada, on Translink trains and buses around the province. (I see an Elizabeth Bachinsky poem everyday on the 06). This year the ABPBC celebrates by hosting a contest called Poetry in Transit and asks people to share their experiences with poetry and the bus, and promises a grand prize of books from all 16 of this year’s published poets.

The contest prompts people to write stories about sharing a poem on the bus with a soul mate, or arguing about poetry with a friend , but maybe ABPBC is giving too much credit to Translink riders. Yesterday the automated voice that reminds a full load of passengers to “please move to the rear of the bus” defected at the word ‘bus’ and it came out sounding more like ‘butt’ and very few adult passengers contained their giggles.

People don’t talk about poetry out loud in public. Can I submit a blog post?

Contest deadline is May 31, 2010. Visit Poetry in Transit for more information.