Featuring Three Local Poets Writing Verses On the Spot in the Station’s Information Booth Transformed Into a Floral Wonderland
Metro Art Presents “Poetry O’Clock,” an interactive poetry exchange pop-up in the historic Union Station Information Booth, Friday, Dec. 10, from 1-7 p.m.
Los Angeles poets Taz Ahmed, traci kato-kiriyama and féi hernandez will each have shifts, meeting one-on-one with visitors to create individualized, personal poems on the spot. The booth will be transformed into a bloomy wonderland by floral artist botanica brava, an evolving project in creativity, collaboration, community and care founded by nonbinary salvi floral practitioner and alien world builder isa peña.
The schedule is:
- 1-3 p.m. — Taz Ahmed
- 3-5 p.m. — traci kato-kiriyama
- 5-7 p.m. — féi hernandez
About the Poets:
- Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed is a political strategist, storyteller and artist based in Los Angeles. She creates at the intersection of counternarratives and culture-shifting as a South Asian American Muslim 2nd-gen woman. She has published two poetry collections: “Emdash and Ellipses” (2016) and “The Day the Moon Split in Two” (2020), which are featured in Tia Chucha’s “Coiled Serpent” (2016). Her poetry has been commissioned by the Center for Cultural Power, PolicyLink, the Garment Worker Center, KPCC’s Unheard LA and more.
- traci kato-kiriyama is an award-winning multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary artist; writer/performer; theatre deviser; cultural producer; and community organizer grounded in collaborative process, collective self-determination and art+community. She is a performer and principal writer for PULLproject Ensemble, two-time NET recipient, and NEFA 2021-22 finalist for their show “TALES OF CLAMOR.” Their work is also featured in a wide swath of media and print publications (including NPR; PBS; Elle.com; Entropy; Chapparal Canyon Press; Tia Chucha Press; Bamboo Ridge Press; Heyday Books; Regent Press).
- féi hernandez is a trans, Inglewood-raised, formerly undocumented immigrant artist, writer, healer. They have been published in POETRY, Pank Magazine, Oxford Review of Books, Frontier Poetry, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, amongst others. They are a Define American Fellow for 2021 and are currently the board president of Gender Justice Los Angeles. féi is the author of the full-length poetry collection “Hood Criatura” (Sundress Publications 2020), which was on NPR’s Best Books of 2020.
Poets are presented in collaboration with the Poetry Society of America. The pop-up also coincides with Metro Art’s forthcoming exhibition in the Union Station Passageway Art Gallery, “We Are … Portraits of Metro Customers by Local Artists.”
For additional information, visit unionstationla.com or art.metro.net.
Metro Art Presents showcases an exciting year-round array of arts and cultural events at historic Union Station and beyond. From music and dance performances, film screenings and poetry readings to experimental and mixed-media presentations, the programs creatively activate downtown’s primary transportation hub for all ages. For more information about how Metro enriches the transit experience through innovative, multifaceted arts and cultural programs, visit metro.net/art, Instagram and Facebook.
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